Raymond Williams

..."the book is distinguished above all by Inglis's writerly energy, here essaying a novelistic sketch, there interjecting a remembered vignette; it is a prose not afraid of trying the high leap and pirouette...while at the same time willing to let a demotic gruffness do the work of moral commentary." -"Dissent "With brio, passion, wisdom and occasional reservations, Inglis introduces us to and evaluates Raymond Williams, the man and the icon, the brilliant cultural-political theorist, the muted social activist, the minor novelist, the compromiser and conscience of the left." -Victor Navasky, Publisher, "The Nation "Raymond Williams has found the right biographer. Like Williams himself, Fred Inglis is both warm-hearted and discriminating; his new book is a reliable and entertaining guide to the life and thought of one of the most interesting writers of our time." -Brian Morton, Executive Editor, "Dissent "Raymond Williams wasone of the greatest Socialist thinkers of his generation who exercised a huge influence among his contemporaries, and will be remembered long after many of those who held high office, over the same period, are forgotten. Fred Inglis' massive, scholarly and sensitive biography will extend an understanding of Raymond Williams' life and work to future generations who did not have the privilege of knowing him. This book will stand as a monument to his contribution to political thought." -Tony Benn "Inglis has not only written a wonderfully lucid, sympathetic, intelligent and good-humored account of the life and works of his hero, Raymond Williams, he has also done much in these ahistorical times to remind his readers of the enduring strengths(and the recurrent failures) of British romantic socialism. This is biography with a political purpose and all the better for it." -Laurie Taylor