The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists (1914) is a semi-autobiographical novel by the Irish house painter and sign writer Robert Noonan, who wrote the book in his spare time under the pen name Robert Tressell. Published after Tressell's death from tuberculosis in the Liverpool Royal Infirmary in 1911, the novel follows a house painter's efforts to find work in the fictional English town of Mugsborough (based on the coastal town of Hastings) to stave off the workhouse for himself, his wife an...

About this Wordsworth Classic: The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is a classic representation of the impoverished and politically powerless underclass of British society in Edwardian England, ruthlessly exploited by the institutionalized corruption of their employers and the civic and religious authorities.Epic in scale, the novel charts the ruinous effects of the laissez-faire mercantilist ethics on the men, women, and children of the working classes, a...

The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists is a novel by Robert Tressell first published in 1914 after his death in 1911. A Marxist critique of society dressed up as a novel, Ragged Trousered Philanthrophists follows construction worker Frank Owen trying to convince others about socialism, a figure based on Tressell himself. He would face rejection and death before his work was published, but when it was it found instant popularity amongst UK workers. An explicitly political work, it is widely r...

Finally available, a high quality book of the original classic edition of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists.This is a new and freshly published edition of this culturally important work by Robert Tressell, which is now, at last, again available to you.Enjoy this classic work today. These selected paragraphs distill the contents and give you a quick look inside The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists:Easton was still reading the Obscurer; he was not about to understa...

In writing this book my intention was to present, in the form of an interesting story, a faithful picture of working-class life--more especially of those engaged in the Building trades--in a small town in the south of England. I wished to describe the relations existing between the workmen and their employers, the attitude and feelings of these two classes towards each other; their circumstances when at work and when out of employment; their pleasures, their intellectual outlook, their rel...

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists tells the story of a group of working men who are joined one day by Owen, a journeyman-prophet with a vision of a just society. Owen's spirited attacks on the greed and dishonesty of the capitalist system rouse his fellow men from their political quietism. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is both a masterpiece of wit and political passion and one of the most authentic novels of English working class life ever written

Set in the fictional town of Mugsborough (loosely based on the real town of Hastings in England), the novel follows the lives of a group of working-class men, including the protagonist Frank Owen, as they struggle with low wages, poor working conditions, and economic inequality. Owen, who is a socialist and a skilled house painter, seeks to educate and enlighten his fellow workers about the injustices they face and the ways in which they are being exploited by their employers and the capit...

The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists (1914) is a semi-autobiographical novel by the Irish house painter and sign writer Robert Noonan, who wrote the book in his spare time under the pen name Robert Tressell. Published after Tressell's death from tuberculosis in the Liverpool Royal Infirmary in 1911, the novel follows a house painter's efforts to find work in the fictional English town of Mugsborough (based on the coastal town of Hastings) to stave off the workhouse for himself, his wife an...

A powerful socialist novel exposing exploitation of the working class.

Robert Tressell's seminal work, "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists," intricately weaves its narrative through the lives of working-class painters in early 20th-century England. The novel, notable for its blend of realism and social critique, uses a rich tapestry of character development and vivid settings to illustrate the struggles against economic exploitation and social injustices. The title itself reflects Tressell's underlying message about the selfless sacrifice of workers who con...

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists By Robert Tressell is a classic political fiction text that is a revealing work of surprising relevance to the present day despite its antiquity.

Passionate, highly entertaining and gloriously funny - Robert Tressell's classic pre-First World War account of the working lives of a group of housepainters and decorators is vividly adapted by Howard Brenton.The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists recounts the little daily successes and the disasters of a group of working-class men, living under the constant fear of being laid off by employers forever looking for new corners to cut. Both workers and bosses are caught in a s...