Excerpts of John Ruskin's writings, with an overall introduction and separate introductions to five sections representing key aspects of Ruskin's life and work -- art, architecture, society (industrialization and British society, including "Unto This Last"), solitude (Ruskin's later period of intellectual isolation), and self (Ruskin's autobiography, "Praeterita"). The book also includes a chronology of Ruskin's life and a bibliography of works about Ruskin with editor's comments on their significance.