Description: A classic text by Ranciere on the intellectual thought of French workers in the 19th century.
Review Quotes: "With its innovative approach, Rancière's difficult and provocative interpretation is essential reading."--Choice
"Rancière's brilliant book ... locates the nineteenth-century origins of European socialism not in the noble desire of artisans to control their own labor but in the utopian visions of working-class poets who wanted to be free of labor altogether ... This is a powerful, piercing, and radical argument ... Rancière has merged his philosophical and historical interests into a profound commentary on the possibilities of human freedom and of the violence done to those possibilities in freedom's name."--Oral History Review "Drury's translation puts it into English as directly and comprehensibly as possible. It's a difficult job to do well, and the translator's work goes a long way toward making the book more readable."--Book News