Workshop of the World Essays in People's History

A new collection of essays from one of the most influential historians of the twentieth century

‘ONE OF THE MOST OUTSTANDING, ORIGINAL INTELLECTUALS OF HIS GENERATION’, Stuart Hall, author of The Hard Road to Renewal

The work of the pioneering historian Raphael Samuel opened up new vistas of historical enquiry. He was committed to the idea of people’s history, in which he excavated the ordinary lives of those often overlooked or discarded by other writers. This ‘unofficial knowledge’ transformed what history was, who was allowed to do it, and who it was for.

Workshop of the World brings the full range and depth of Samuel’s historical writing on nineteenth-century Britain to the fore. From his pioneering study of the influence of the Catholic Church on England’s Irish population to his expansive and erudite essay on the itinerant labourers of Victorian Britain, the collection captures both the breadth and depth of his learning. Guided by both a political engagement as well as a methodological commitment to uncovering the stories of ordinary people, Workshop of the World will help introduce Raphael Samuel’s work to a new generation of readers.

Raphael Samuel (1934–1996) was a leading figure of the New Left, and a founding editor of History Workshop Journal. His works include Theatres of Memory and Island Stories.

John Merrick is an editor at Verso Books. His essays and criticism have appeared in New Left Review, Guardian, Baffler, Jacobin, and elsewhere.