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John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand

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A very good look back on the life of the famous public thinker and activist.

Richard Reeves provides the basic information necessary for a modern reader to understand John Stuart Mill's impact on his own age and afterwards, especially as related to the concept of personal liberty and the fight for women's rights. While his unusual personal life (e.g., an unequaled childhood education and a long love interest with a married woman who, upon widowhood, became his wife) is covered by Mr. Reeves, the main thrust of this book is Mill's thinking and actions related to the great liberal issues of 19th century Britain.

One area I did find lacking in Mr. Reeves' otherwise strong effort is the absent of analysis on Mill's direct impact on India given the subject of this biography's long career in a leadership post at the East India Company.

Richard Reeves, the newly appointed director of the think-tank Demos, has written a fine biography of John Stuart Mill, `the foremost public intellectual in British history'.

Reeves notes Mill's economic egalitarianism, his belief that "the only properly `private' property was the fruit of a person's labour." But Mill also had utopian free trade beliefs, for instance he wrote, "It is commerce which is rapidly rendering war obsolete." He also held, but later abandoned, Ricardo's wage fund theory, that there was only a fixed amount of money available for wages, which meant that collective action to raise wages was self-defeating.

Mill produced the classic, `The subjection of women'. He wrote that in Britain "there remain no legal slaves except the mistress of every house." As Reeves writes, "British feminism has many mothers, but only one father. ... gender equality ... was also a distillation of the major concerns of Mill's thinking: the innate equality of all human beings, the corrosive power of dependency, the triumph of reason over custom, the intrinsic value of individual liberty, and the role of institutions and social customs in shaping character." Mill opposed faith schools, noting that they taught `bad morals: passivity, blind faith, fatalism, complacency and prejudice against other religions'.

Mill dismissed the notion of "waging `war for an idea' as being as criminal as to go to war for territory or revenue ... it is as little justifiable to force our ideas on other people, as to compel them to submit to our will in any other respect." But he was no pacifist, writing that war was "infinitely less evil than systematic submission to injustice." In the American Civil War, Mill campaigned for the North's victory over the slaveholding South.

Mill supported a rational, progressive nationalism, writing, "We do not mean nationalism in the vulgar sense of the term: a senseless antipathy to foreigners; an indifference to the general welfare of the human race, or an unjust preference of the supposed interests of our own country; a cherishing of bad peculiarities because they are national; or a refusal to adopt what has been found good by other countries. We mean a principle of sympathy not of hostility; of union, not of separation. We mean a feeling of common interest among those who live under the same government."

But Reeves' reverence for Mill leads him to reduce his rival Marx to Mill's level, as when he writes, "Like Marx, Mill did not take the side of either the Commune or the French government."

I cannot imagine the amount of effort it must have required to evaluate all the relevant material needed to write this book. Roland Barthes once quipped that a biography is a novel that dare not speak its name. If I had to name one biography that would make that aphorism less applicable, it would be this one. The second part of the book title might mislead one to think that this is a page turner, but it is not. When a thoroughly written book is written about a thoroughly reflective writer, the necessary exposition dilutes any feeling like suspense.

As the book reveals the flaws in some of Mill's statements, this book isn't a lengthy adulation, but it generally seems to be a gallant defense of Mill. This book sweeps away two of the lingering myths about JSM: the idea that he never said anything aphoristic and that he was emotionally numb.

The flaws in this book are minor overall. I point out that the endnotes and bibliography of the book are far more generous than the index. I cite this single example: One of the most memorable things that Mill ever said about conservatism (pp 374-375) can't be found using the index, even though the index makes eight other entries under 'conservatism' that reveal nothing as memorable as what can be found on those two pages. I also wish that the book had attempted to show more about Mill's stances on social issues that are still contentious in the current decade (like animal rights.) Unfortunately, the greater number of words are written about Mill's stances on issues that are nearly settled (slavery and women's suffrage.) I realize that the author's aim was to explain to readers how stances that are uncontroversial today are only so because of the earlier confrontation by thinkers like Mill.

I suppose, like all other great biographies, the book's thoroughness didn't end my curiosity but incited even more. I wish I had been introduced to Mill through this book when I was an undergraduate rather than starting with Utilitarianism. Of all the non-fiction books I've read in the past few years, I feel like this one has taught me the most about any person or any age. I wish I could have written it.

There's a superb review of this book found in the NY Times.

Of late I have been in a bit of fix finding an author whose book I could read from beginning to end. Reeve put an end to this dilemma, and convincingly so! I always gravitated to Mill, but found myself over awed by an intellect that seemed bigger than life. Reeves unravels the complexity of the man by putting his philosophy and persona into discernable terms. He opens a window into the humanity which was the essence of John Stuart Mill, best captured in the revealing loving and tender correspondences with his wife, Harriet. Much too is brought to light of Mill the crusader, taking on the landed gentry for more equitable distribution of wealth, to his much ridiculed stance in promoting full equality for woman.

This is a fascinating and compelling read which reflects considerable study and research by the author, Richard Reeves.

John Stuart Mill is a fascinating character in many ways, although I suspect many today would find a lot of his views rather pederstrian in nature, given the current climate of what some call "a liberal society". However, his personal life would probably raise eyebrows among a majority of the populace, particularly his platonic relationship with a married woman whose husband apparently ignored the realtionship to a great degree. The lady would subsequently become his wife.

Surpisingly, given the vast amount of his published works amounting to some thirty volumes, Mill has only two major biographical works to his name. The first, The Life of John Stuart Mill. with a Pref. by F. A. Hayekwas only published in 1954 while the second, John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor: Their Correspondence and Subsequent Marriage.]examines the friendship and subsequent marriage of the two soul mates. Mill himself left us his Autobiography [[ASIN:0865976503 The Collected Works, Vol. 1: Autobiography... which, despite the author's well known sense of detachment and objectivity, does not do justice to his life.

Mill also is a controversial character, as others who have made reference to his youthful exuberance to the promotion of contraception, have previously noted. He set an astonishing example, which others today would do well to follow, of not campaigning during the period prior to his election as a Member of Parliament for the Westminster Constituency. The main source of the controversy around Mill and his thought is to do with his portrayal as a Liberal, in the British sense of the word.

Richard Reeves does not set out with an explicit aim to capture Mill and his views for the Centre Left ground but it is clearly part of his intention and I feel that some readers of this book may conclude that he has done so. A word of warning hear. There are many who consider themselves to be on the "right" (perhaps even "Right") of the political spectrum who accuse Mill of being a Socialist. Indeed, I suspect many of those same people have little familiarity with his works.

Reeves, unlike his illustrious predecessors, makes Mill come alive within the pages of this work. He provides a vivid picture of the life of Mill which is far from being dry as dust and fills out the two dimensional outline with which many are familiar into a robust three dimensional figure with an unusual life and lifestyle, which, although distant from that of most English eccentrics, places him towards that sort of characterisation.

We are faced with a narrative which is sympathetic to Mill's experience as a child of being torn away from his mother's arms and placed under the ruthless eye of his father, a cold, distant man, who teaches Mill a classical education from an early age and which causes emotional and psychological trauma later in life. It is this pairing of the human side of his life with the intellectual journey which makes for such compelling reading and makes it difficult for the reader to put the book down long enough to make a cup of tea or coffee. The author writes in such a way as to bring home the dramatic events in Mill's life in such a way that we are almost in awe at the way that the objective Mill deals with those events whereas we, mere mortals, would struggle to deal with them.

I am very appreciative too, of the treatment Mill and Harriet Taylor receive at the biographer's hands. Whilst he questions the notion of the platonic relationship, he holds up a clear picture of the intellectual nature of their relationship and one can almost imagine the conversations between the two being very detached and objective. Reeves makes clear the affection that Mill has for Harriet and makes explicit the esteem that Mill had for her, so much so that he articulates views which run somewhat contrary to his documented thought, and sustains those views even beyond her death

It does seem to me that the clarity with which some view Mill's position on the political spectrum is not an accurate viewpoint. Although he remains, to me at least, predominantly a Classical Liberal, his individualism is the key to his understanding. In many respects setting him up as the archetypal libertarian is bound to fail as noone's thought can be so pure. While there are clear signs of a social democrat Mill exhibited by his support for Represntatives for (and not of) the working classes and his enthusiasm for co-operatives, they are in no way dominant.

Richard Reeves has done a tremendous service to the restoration of John Stuart Mill as one of the giants of British thought by portraying a man with an enormous intellect who'se works will be discussed and debated for many years to come. At the end of this superb book, I hope readers will not find a conclusion but a renewed interest in finding out more about this Victorian Firebrand.

Its very hard to write a compelling biography of a person of ideas. They tend to lead rather boring lives, and live them entirely in their heads. Reeves has managed, with painstaking detail, to reveal the dynamic between Mill's life and his ideas and how they fed off each other. This is what makes it such a good book. Even if you think you know Mill (Jr.) well you will gain a deeper appreciation of him by reading this book; and of the difficult art of biography.

Although he was a Liberal, don't get confused by his `open-mindedness' when leading Victorian Liberal William Gladstone labelled the great John Stuart Mill. I suspect all students will have tremendous affection for Mill even though they may not care for liberals.

In this short review, I will concentrate on the value of the book for the jurisprudence undergraduate because Richard Reeves has produced the first proper and worthwhile study of Mill for 50 years which will be of great benefit to scholars aiming for a `First'.

The first thing to do is look at the index at the back because the fifteen chapters, plus the prologue and epilogue, give you the essence of the man as a human being whilst some careful cross-referencing with the likes of Bentham and Co. will give you your legal learning and quotes.
Look specifically at chapters 11(`On Liberty') and 12 (`To Hell I Will Go') because Reeves offers some useful twenty-first century quotable insights into our "Victorian Firebrand" and some of his overt political failings such as his opposition to the introduction of the secret ballot! Frankly, I have never thought of Mill as a firebrand as the world he left us with was unquestionably better for his efforts as Reeves acknowledges... and, as he concludes, it still is.

This masterly work gives Mill his proper place in jurisprudence and the wider field for his utilitarianism, described by Reeves as "a word with a divided personality, meaning one thing in common use and the opposite in formal philosophy". What I found particularly inspiring with this biography is the political and historic context in which Mill has been placed because, to understand the value of philosophy and the importance of jurisprudence either as a tutor or learner, is clearly to understand also the historical period in which the thoughts first prevailed, and I am not talking Plato here.

Mr Reeves manages to succeed with his task magnificently throughout the 487 pages and the massive details contained in the notes afterwards. Of particular delight, as a break from the prose, are the splendid series of illustrations and the photographs which firmly place this book at the forefront of both legal and political biography. It is a work which I felt at home with from the outset, written in readable English with the detail needed (and without the footnotes). I am sure that great American, Benjamin Franklin, whom Mill so clearly admired, would agree entirely.

As some commentators have acknowledged, this work is long overdue but it does give us the complexities and contradictions of the man together with his ideals which many of us would like to have if we had our feet firmly taken out of the cemented ground. Will Hutton feels the book comes at a timely moment `when both socialism and liberalism have lost their way'! Hmm! I would not really equate today's Liberal Democrats or New Labour (if it still is under Gordon Brown) in any way, shape or form with John Stuart Mill- Mill was a man of his time just as my forebears were liberals and radicals, whilst I am a radical Tory in the modern David Cameron tradition as contemporary politics continues to be turned on its head ideologically.

I will end where Reeves begins...which is a defining moment for Mill in the 1823 St James's Park walk and discovery of the newly killed baby which led to the sort of behaviour which singles Mill out as the highest-ranking philosopher of his century and someone we need a great many more of today: being a human being, an activist and a thinker.

This authoritative work illustrates that the problems faced by Mill in the nineteenth century have such similar relations today when one reads of his passion for reforms of alcohol, gambling, prostitution (and their lordships), and whose life was spent in the pursuit of truth and liberty, and the promotion of happiness for all. It is a remarkable story and Richard Reeves gives us a new insight into this radical reformer who's shaping of Victorian England has so many messages left still unread now: it is a great read as well as being a great book about a great man -

I am a fan, and you will be, too, when you read the book.

Dull as dishwater. In stacking up his credentials as an archivist, the author creates a giant haystack of Mill's ideas (readily available by reading Mill) but finding the man, the fascinating man, in this haystack is like the locating the proverbial needle.