the making of the english working class review

In his 1968 postscript Thompson focused on two areas of the 1963 edition. The key issues identified as being raised by the book include the moral economy, winners and losers in history, how classes are made and interact with each other and the traditions of the British working class, peaceful or otherwise. The issue for this seminar is to address the question of how relevant the book is 50 years after the paperback appeared in the turbulent academic autumn of 1968, in respect of some of its key themes, while noting on the way, some other parts of the book that are perhaps now less relevant. Thompson+news’ to find a string of journal articles and magazine pieces referencing Thompson’s work, usually The Making or related to the Making In a sense there is no need to give a seminar paper on that particular point. The book remains hugely influential not just in the UK but across the world. The book remains in print but now costs rather more.Ī review in The Times (pre-Murdoch) of the paperback edition concluded by calling Thompson ‘a magnificent, lucid, angry historian’. The book retailed for a then weighty 18 shillings (90p). The book they chose was E P Thompson’s Making of the English Working Class.

Summary of paper given by Keith Flett at the Institute of Historical Research on Monday 3 rd December 2018 (prior to the IWGB boycott)Īt the end of September 1968 Pelican published the 1000th volume in their paperback series.

Thompson’s Making of the English Working Class still relevant on the 50 th anniversary of the publication of the paperback edition.

The making of the english working class review