A young activist and highly-educated Cambridge Union debater, Mill would become in time the highest-ranked English thinker of the nineteenth century, the author of the landmark essay On Liberty and one of the most passionate reformers and advocates of his revolutionary, opinionated age. As a journalist he fired off a weekly article on Irish land reform as the people of that nation starved, as an MP he introduced the first vote on women's suffrage, fought to preserve free-speech and opposed slavery, and, in his private life, pursued for two decades a love affair with another man's wife.

To understand Mill and his contribution, Richard Reeves explores his life and work in tandem. His book is a riveting and authoritative biography of a man raised to promote happiness, whose life was spent in the pursuit of truth and liberty for all.

Now in paperback, Richard Reeves's beautifully written book is the definitive life of one of the heroic giants of Victorian England and the first biography for general readers since 1954: 'The best book I have read in a long time.' Ben Wilson, Literary Review

About the Author
Richard Reeves is a leading social and political commentator, writing regularly for the Observer, New Statesman, Guardian, and Prospect. He is a former Columnist of the Year and Young Financial Journalist of the Year and has held research fellowships at the Institute for Public Policy Research and the University of London. He is the author of Dream Hoarders, about the rise of a class-based society in America.

Reviews
Richard Reeves' sparkling new biography succeeds triumphantly. Practically every aspect of Mill's life and thought is freshly presented. -- John Gray * Independent *
Gripping and authoritative... Liberty, individualism and imagination were the essence of Mill's thought, and now that Mill's liberalism seems to have finally run its course, Reeves spells out its implications with exemplary lucidity, thoroughness and brio. -- Hilary Spurling * Observer *
Richard Reeves has assembled an impressive array of material and marshalled it with great style... the pace never slackens, the writing is slick and lucid. -- Phil Collins * Daily Telegraph *
Meticulously explored... This is a masterpiece. * Catholic Herald *


Awards
Short-listed for James Tait Black Memorial Book Prize: Biography 2008.



Book Information
ISBN 9781843546443
Author Richard Reeves
Format Paperback
Page Count 624
Imprint Atlantic Books
Publisher Atlantic Books
Weight(grams) 600g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 130mm * 42mm