"The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is straightforward and highly readable, but it is also a very odd book. After all, novels don't usually explain key points of Marxist theory. True, it has humour, parody, pathos, irony, rage, little victories, defeats, arguments and ideas, and it is brim full of contempt for the ruling class. But isn't capitalism irreversibly triumphant in the twenty-first century? And isn't the book too hard on workers? Anyway, what practical political appeal can a tale of isolated socialists, fighting for a Co-operative Commonwealth, possibly have today?"

"Tressell: The Real Story of 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists' describes the author's life, puts the book in its historical context and traces its success over the past ninety-odd years. It shows that The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is about socialist values and their continued relevance at a time when we are being told that capitalism is here for ever; that greed is good; that war, famine, poverty, racism and oppression are natural, normal and permanent features of life on Planet Earth. Crucially, Tressell's passionate, compassionate denunciation of the capitalist 'system' is about hope, so little wonder The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists is selling very well indeed in these anti-capitalist days."--Jacket.