Pierre Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865) is one of the most important French social theoreticians of the nineteenth century. George Woodcock's book, first published in 1956, was the first full-scale biography of Proudhon in the English language.

Proudhon's influence on the French Socialist movement was immense and he played a great part in the First International and Paris Commune, in French syndicalism and in contemporary movements for currency reform.

Proudhon's significance also reaches forward into the contemporary era, when his massive distrust of the state and his teaching of the need for world federation took on a new importance in a world threatened by the explosive rivalries of giant nationalistic states.

"The Marvellous Century," filled with characters, events, romance and intrigue, explores the literature, the philosophy, the politics and the sciences of the sixth century BC. It documents the writing of the Upanishads, pursues the thought of the Greek astronomer and philosopher Thales, traces the emergence of atomic theories in India, monitors the economics of the central Asia silk trade, reflects upon the great religions--Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism and Modern Judaism--and discusses how, and why, so much that was vital to our civilization came into being during this era.

George Woodcock (1912-1995)--poet, author, essayist and widely known as a literary journalist and historian--published more than 90 titles on history, biography, philosophy, poetry and literary criticism.

Pierre Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865) is one of the most important French social theoreticians of the nineteenth century. George Woodcock's book, first published in 1956, was the first full-scale biography of Proudhon in the English language. Proudhon's influence on the French Socialist movement was immense and he played a great part in the First International and Paris Commune, in French syndicalism and in contemporary movements for currency reform. Proudhon's significance also reaches forward into the contemporary era, when his massive distrust of the state and his teaching of the need for world federation took on a new importance in a world threatened by the explosive rivalries of giant nationalistic states.

During his lifetime, Herbert Read acquired a considerable international reputation as a poet, anarchist, novelist and biographer, critic of art, literature and life, aesthetic philosopher and revolutionary theorist of education. This book is a critical study of his intellectual career.

"The Marvellous Century," filled with characters, events, romance and intrigue, explores the literature, the philosophy, the politics and the sciences of the sixth century BC. It documents the writing of the Upanishads, pursues the thought of the Greek astronomer and philosopher Thales, traces the emergence of atomic theories in India, monitors the economics of the central Asia silk trade, reflects upon the great religions--Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism and Modern Judaism--and discusses how, and why, so much that was vital to our civilization came into being during this era.

George Woodcock (1912-1995)--poet, author, essayist and widely known as a literary journalist and historian--published more than 90 titles on history, biography, philosophy, poetry and literary criticism.

With compassion and honesty, George Woodcock presents Malcolm Lowry: the man and his works. The portrait that emerges depicts a series of complex and destructive relationships that lead to an existential exploration of alienation, exile, and identity and to what many critics regard as some of the finest writing to come out of the twentieth century.

This compelling collection of essays provides considerable insight into the challenges Lowry set for himself-as an artist and as a man. The first section of the book, "The Works," considers all of Lowry's fiction and the evolution of his style as he struggled to find the form appropriate to a new approach to reality. The influences that shaped his world and gave form to his work are considered in the second section, "The Man and the Sources." From Lowry's love of jazz and the cinema, to the books he read, Woodcock follows Lowry's life: a life marked by violent alcoholism, two unstable marriages, and stints in jails and mental institutions as he drifted to and from London, Paris, New York, and Mexico. Contributors include: Robert B. Heilman, Anthony R. Kilgallin, George Woodcock, Geoffrey Durrant, David Benham, Matthew Corrigan, Conrad Aiken, Hilda Thomas, Downif Kirk, W.H. New, Perle Epstein, William McConnell, and Maurice J. Carey.

George Woodcock (19121995)-award-winning poet, author, and essayist and widely known as a literary journalist and historian-published more than ninety titles on history, biography, philosophy, poetry, and literary criticism.

Woodcock's biography is one of the first to enter deeply into the intellectual content of Wilde's works and life. He probes the dualistic nature of Wilde's mind and provides a critical, in-depth discussion of the paradox that was Oscar Wilde. "Successfully reconciles two disparate views of Wilde: that of upper class dandy and that of social critic."--"The Gateway"

This biography surveys and analyzes the most significant aspects of Peter Kropotkin's life and thought: his formative years in Russia, 1842-1876, and the origins of his anarchist thinking; his years as an emigre in Western Europe, 1876-1917, and the ripening of his political thought; and his last years in the Soviet Union, 1917-1921.

"All women together ought to let flowers fall on the tomb of Aphra Behn, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds."--Virginia Woolf "A valuable introduction to this remarkable woman who was a pioneer feminist, free spirit, liberated woman and professional writer during the Restoration."--"Ottawa Citizen"

"Godwin ... was the inspiring intelligence behind the humanist attitudes of the English Romantic poets and Utopian societies.... his spiritual anarchism is still a relevant concept."--"Vancouver Sun" "The book is brilliant.... interesting reading even if you know nothing about Godwin."--"Ottawa Citizen"

The clearest statement of Kropotkin's anarchist social doctrines. In Kropotkin's own description, the book is "a study of the needs of humanity, and of the economic means to satisfy them."

Virginia Woolf said of The Egoist: 'Meredith pays us a supreme compliment to which as novel-readers we are little accustomed ... He imagines us capable of disinterested curiosity in the behaviour of our kind.' In this, the most dazzlingly intellectual of all his novels, Meredith tries to illuminate the pretensions of the most powerful class within the very citadel of security which its members have built. He develops to their logical extremity his ideas on egoism, on sentimentality and on the power of comedy. Meredith saw egoism as the great enemy of truth, feeling and progress, and comedy as the great dissolver of artifice. The Egoist is the extreme expression of his recurrent theme: the defeat of egoism by the power of comedy.

An early collection from the founder of "Canadian Literature" containing poems divided into four collections, excluding the preface and epilogue poems, named "Bestiary, Mythology, Homage," and "Anima."