The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
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- Publication date
- 2010-10-07
- Usage
- Public Domain
- Topics
- librivox, audiobook, fiction, Tressell, capitalism
- Language
- English
LibriVox recording of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, by Robert Tressell.
Read by Tadhg.
Clearly frustrated at the refusal of his contemporaries to recognise the iniquity of society, Tressell's cast of hypocritical Christians, exploitative capitalists and corrupt councillors provide a backdrop for his main target — the workers who think that a better life is "not for the likes of them". Hence the title of the book; Tressell paints the workers as "philanthropists" who throw themselves into back-breaking work for poverty wages in order to generate profit for their masters.
The hero of the book, Frank Owen, is a socialist who believes that the capitalist system is the real source of the poverty he sees all around him. In vain he tries to convince his fellow workers of his world view, but finds that their education has trained them to distrust their own thoughts and to rely on those of their "betters". Much of the book consists of conversations between Owen and the others, or more often of lectures by Owen in the face of their jeering; this was presumably based on Tressell's own experiences.(Summary by Tadhg)
For further information, including links to M4B audio book, online text, reader information, RSS feeds, CD cover or other formats or languages (if available), please go to the LibriVox catalog page for this recording.
For more free audio books or to become a volunteer reader, visit LibriVox.org.
M4B audio book, part 1 (220mb)
M4B audio book, part 2 (189mb)
M4B audio book, part 3 (212mb)
Read by Tadhg.
Clearly frustrated at the refusal of his contemporaries to recognise the iniquity of society, Tressell's cast of hypocritical Christians, exploitative capitalists and corrupt councillors provide a backdrop for his main target — the workers who think that a better life is "not for the likes of them". Hence the title of the book; Tressell paints the workers as "philanthropists" who throw themselves into back-breaking work for poverty wages in order to generate profit for their masters.
The hero of the book, Frank Owen, is a socialist who believes that the capitalist system is the real source of the poverty he sees all around him. In vain he tries to convince his fellow workers of his world view, but finds that their education has trained them to distrust their own thoughts and to rely on those of their "betters". Much of the book consists of conversations between Owen and the others, or more often of lectures by Owen in the face of their jeering; this was presumably based on Tressell's own experiences.(Summary by Tadhg)
For further information, including links to M4B audio book, online text, reader information, RSS feeds, CD cover or other formats or languages (if available), please go to the LibriVox catalog page for this recording.
For more free audio books or to become a volunteer reader, visit LibriVox.org.
M4B audio book, part 1 (220mb)
M4B audio book, part 2 (189mb)
M4B audio book, part 3 (212mb)
- Addeddate
- 2010-10-07 15:35:42
- Boxid
- OL100020412
- Call number
- 4323
- External-identifier
- urn:storj:bucket:jvrrslrv7u4ubxymktudgzt3hnpq:ragged_trousered_philantropists_th_librivox
- External_metadata_update
- 2019-04-05T02:18:09Z
- Identifier
- ragged_trousered_philantropists_th_librivox
- Ocr
- tesseract 5.0.0-1-g862e
- Ocr_autonomous
- true
- Ocr_detected_lang
- en
- Ocr_detected_lang_conf
- 1.0000
- Ocr_detected_script
- Latin
- Ocr_detected_script_conf
- 1.0000
- Ocr_module_version
- 0.0.14
- Ocr_parameters
- -l eng+Latin
- Ppi
- 300
- Run time
- 22:38:49
- Taped by
- LibriVox
- Year
- 2010
comment
Reviews
Reviewer:
dahszil
-
favoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
April 27, 2020
Subject: Tadhg is a superb reader . As usual i can't reserve my initial comment till finished listening, sorry . I am at ...
Subject: Tadhg is a superb reader . As usual i can't reserve my initial comment till finished listening, sorry . I am at ...
the beginning of chapter 7 . Tadhg reads in a very good Irish brogue , if not dialect at least Irish accent . This one of the great socio-economic criticism novels right up there with writers George Gissing, Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell , Charles Dickens , Victor Hugo, Eugene Sue , et al . Even more important is the fact writer of this novel was based on the real life experiences of a working man, house painter and sign painter , who was constantly struggling to care for his daughter and not to end up in the horrible british workhouse , aka poorhouse
Reviewer:
Lucy_k_p
-
favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
November 14, 2013
Subject: An Important Book
Subject: An Important Book
This is a moving account, highlighting exactly why we need laws to protect the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society from exploitation by the rich and powerful. The descriptions of what it is like to live in dire poverty (drawn from the author's own experiences) are heart-breaking. Everyone should read this book.
The quality of reading was excellent, the characters came to life and I was constantly engaged. Thank you Tadhg for making this book available.
The quality of reading was excellent, the characters came to life and I was constantly engaged. Thank you Tadhg for making this book available.
Reviewer:
TheBookworm
-
favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
October 30, 2011
Subject: Ragged Trousered
Subject: Ragged Trousered
Written by a housepainter in 1910, this book exposes the abusive working conditions of the painting trade and is a undisguised explanation of the solution, socialism.
If there are other first hand descriptions of working class occupations of this period that delve as deeply, I have not seen them. It is terrible to note that one false step on the part of Tressel's slave-like painters would have placed them amoung Jack London's "People of Abyss".
http://www.archive.org/details/people_of_abyss_pw_librivox
As usual, narrator Tadhg Hynes does a flawless job. Thank you, Tadhg, for bringing this important book back to the public attention.
TheBookworm (Manchester, UK)
If there are other first hand descriptions of working class occupations of this period that delve as deeply, I have not seen them. It is terrible to note that one false step on the part of Tressel's slave-like painters would have placed them amoung Jack London's "People of Abyss".
http://www.archive.org/details/people_of_abyss_pw_librivox
As usual, narrator Tadhg Hynes does a flawless job. Thank you, Tadhg, for bringing this important book back to the public attention.
TheBookworm (Manchester, UK)
Reviewer:
vlands
-
favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
October 15, 2010
Subject: Super good
Subject: Super good
Caveat: the story itself makes one repeated point...repeated and repeated. But maybe that's part of the plan: the monotony and drudgery. However, Tadhg does a masterful narration that brings the characters onto the couch right next to you. He is a Librivox star!
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08 - Chapter 5 download
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25 - Chapter 20 download
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35 - Chapter 28 download
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40 - Chapter 33 download
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44 - Chapter 37 download
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46 - Chapter 39 download
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59 - Chapter 46 download
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