After Ruskin ─ The Social and Political Legacies of a Victorian Prophet, 1870-1920

After Ruskin is the first book to explore the social and political influence of the leading Victorian art and social critic, John Ruskin (1819-1900). It explains how he inspired a range of individuals to reform Britain's social and political culture in the period between 1870 and 1920. These individuals operated in a number of key institutions and organisations: Ruskin's Guild of St. George, societies formed in Ruskin's name, the university settlements, and in Parliament, particularly in the Labour Party. Stuart Eagles helps to explain how these institutions developed, who guided them, and their motivation, as much as it explains the nature and extent of Ruskin's legacies. An original analysis based on extensive archival research, this is the first comprehensive survey of the intellectual influence of one of Victorian Britain's greatest critics.

Stuart Eagles was born in Reading and studied English at the University of Lancaster, where he wrote a Master's dissertation on Dickens, Ruskin, and Victorian Political Economy. He completed a D.Phil on Ruskin's social and political legacy in Britain at The Queen's College, University of Oxford, and is now studying Ruskin's influence in Russia. He is a Companion of the Guild of St. George, and an established contributor to the work of the Ruskin Library and Research Centre, University of Lancaster.