Perhaps the most influential political essay ever written, Unto This Last was one of the defining texts of British socialism, and was a decisive experience in the lives of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, amongst many others.

Ruskin’s lessons are as urgently needed today as ever. His attack on the greed and short-termism of unbridled capitalism, and on the pursuit of money instead of true wealth, are every bit as inspiring and challenging as they were when Unto This Last was first published 150 years ago.       

A new introduction by Andrew Hill, Associate Editor and City Editor of the Financial Times, and editor of the Lombard column, discusses the value of the essay in an age of credit crunch. A foreword by the Master of the Guild of St George, Ruskin’s association for social reform, sets out what Ruskinians today can do and are doing.