Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/701

 REVIEWS.

John Riiskifi, Social Reformer. By J. A. Hobson. Boston: Dana, Estes & Co., 1898. Pp. ix + 357.

A BOOK by Mr. Hobson is anticipated with exceptional interest by those who are looking for original contributions to the economic and sociological thought of today. In this book he might seem to have gone into a new field, and yet to have precluded the possibility of con- tributing anything original. One immediately discovers, however, that the writer is on familiar ground, though leading us in new paths. He has done several things remarkably well. In the first place, as a liter- ary production, the bringing together of scattered and disconnected utterances into a system which should be logical without losing its lit- erary form, is an achievement ; in the second place, the discovery of a philosophy in Mr. Ruskin's writings will be to many people a revela- tion ; in the third place, the tribute paid to Mr. Ruskin as an econo- mist, though it may seem exaggerated to those who do not know his writings well, appears to be amply supported; finally, Mr. Hobson's personal contributions, by way of expounding or criticising Mr. Rus- kin, are illuminating.

Mr. Hobson points out in the beginning how, in spite of no signs of interest in social movements in Mr. Ruskin's early life, there was a natural progression toward his later views, evidenced even in the first volume of Modern Painters, and not attaining full expression until quite late years.

Though incautious and sometimes extravagant in words, John Ruskin was a plodding and careful thinker; his thoughts had never been directed, by necessar)' contact with his early interests, to the social and economic structure of societies, and therefore he had never formed any definite convictions rela- ting to them. Never being thrown into the eddying tide of any of the radical movements in politics or philosophy which marked that restless age, he was not impelled by contact with other fervent souls into hasty speculations or cheaply acquired convictions upon the fundamental problems of society.

Even after he had begun to express his social ideas, he suffered from the misfortune of having thought so thoroughly and written so lucidly.

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