John Ruskin's Politics and Natural Law

This book offers new perspectives on the origins and development of John Ruskin's political thought. Graham A. MacDonald traces the influence of late medieval and pre-Enlightenment thought in Ruskin's writing, reintroducing readers to Ruskin's politics as shaped through his engagement with concepts of natural law, legal rights, labour and welfare organization. From Ruskin's youthful studies of geology and chemistry to his back-to-the-land project, the Guild of St. George, he emerges as a complex political thinker, a reformer-and what we would recognize today as an environmentalist. John Ruskin's Politics and Natural Law is a nuanced reappraisal of neglected areas of Ruskin's thought.

Graham A. MacDonald has worked as a teacher, librarian, park planner, heritage consultant andhistorian. Between 1991 and 2001 he was National Park Historian for Parks Canada, Western Region. He is the author of numerous books and articles.

1. Introduction.- 2. The Wine Merchant's Son: Ruskin's Discovery of the World.- 3. Art, Morality and the Fate of Nations: 1848-1853.- 4. On the Moral Disorder of Victorian England: From Art to Political Economy: 1853-1863.- 5. Wealth, Justice and the Medieval Poor Law: 1864-1870.- 6. Towards Pluralism: Oxford and Natural Law: 1870-1877.- 7. Easing towards 'a Vast Policy': Establishing the Guild of St. George.- 8. The Condition of Political Virtue: Cooperative Individualism and Civil Association.