Thompson's book has been called controversial, but perhaps only because so many have forgotten how explosive England was during the Regency and the early reign of Victoria. Without any reservation, The Making of the English Working Class is the most important study of those days since the classic work of the Hammonds. Mr. Thompson's deeply human imagination and controlled passion help us to recapture the agonies, heroisms, and illusions of the working class as it made itself. No one interested in the history of the English people should fail to read his book.