Publisher's Synopsis
In this extensively revised third edition Paul Thompson takes into account the new perspectives brought by feminist scholarship, and looks at the way Morris's concerns anticipate those of present day environmentalists and greens. He also examines in greater detail Morris's views on child-centred education.;Separate chapters are devoted to Morris's activities in different fields, emphasizing the creative energies that caused him to throw himself with equal conviction into whatever he undertook, whether it was dyeing a fabric, writing an epic poem, illuminating a manuscript, expounding socialism at street-corner meetings, designing wallpapers, denouncing the desecrators of historic buildings or casting for pike in the Thames. His zeal and enthusiasm, combined with his artistic gifts, made Morris a magnetic personality. But, in addition, his campaign to bring art back to the people and to better the social conditions of his time has exerted an immense influence on the artistic and political developments of this century. In reassessing Morris's work, Paul Thompson shows that his answers to the vital issues of this time are as immediate and relevant as ever.
