|
|
Article: Mill! thou shouldst be living at this hour
- Article from:
- The Spectator
- Article date:
- December 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Spectator Dec 1, 2007. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
|
JOHN STUART MILL: VICTORIAN FIREBRAND by Richard Reeves Atlantic Books, £30, pp. 616 ISBN 9781843546436 £24 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655
Britain has had few public intellectuals. The one undeniable example was John Stuart Mill who lived from 1806 to 1873 and whose utterances dominated the more intelligent public debates of the mid-19th century -- predictably he was keenly studied by Gladstone and mocked by Disraeli. In the last year of his life he was persuaded to be godfather to the infant Bertrand Russell, who was the nearest runner-up in the UK public intellectual stake. Mill's own influence was on the wane for much of the 20th century when Marx became the centre of attention. ...