Robert Owen was one of the most controversial figures of his generation. He lived through the Age of Revolutions and was touched by the ideas and dramatic changes that characterised that era. This is a biographical study of his life.
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
More scholarship than entertainment,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Robert Owen: Owen of New Lanark and New Harmony (Paperback)
This is especially interesting for the light on his early life and the society of late eighteenth century Manchester. Robert Owen is probably best known as an utopian socialist with worthy but fuzzy ideas. He has always stood out from other early socialists because, as GDH Cole (I think) said he was able to beat the capitalists at their own game when he put his mind to it by running successful businesses. This book shows how one of seven children of a Welsh saddler could rise in the world of the early steam engines and factories. I was fascinated by his life in his twenties in Manchester, where he was friendly with Dalton (the originator of the atom) and lent money to Fulton (the inventor of the steamship) and discussed religion with Coleridge. The later life is already well known. The narrative livens up again describing travelling west in the United States. I should have liked more explanation of how he acquired his technical skills after what sounds like an apprenticeship only in retail trade. Some of the financial transactions remain obscure. The author pursues a Robinson Crusoe metaphor at puzzling length. I thought he used too many lengthy quotations from dully written sources (including Owen's own flat and boring autobiography). I should like to have known more of what finally became of New Lanark, Ormiston and New Harmony (where Donnachie apparently met Owen family descendants) and about the birth control ideas and accusations of sexual immorality. Nice illustrations. On the whole this is more a scholarly biography than one that can be read through for entertainment.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
