Witness against the Beast

E. P. Thompson's long-awaited book on William Blake was published shortly after the historian's death in August 1993. Acclaimed as one of his best and most deeply felt works, it appears now for the first time in paperback. Written with a vivid passion, and bearing the marks of Thompson's lifelong struggle against authoritarian and anti-humanitarian politics both at the level of the individual and of the state, Witness Against the Beast: William Blake and the Moral Law is a profound enquiry into the structure of Blake's thought and the character of his sensibility. Its qualities are among those which place Thompson himself in the same tradition of dissenting values and non-conforming radicalism represented by Blake some two hundred years earlier.

'Everything characteristic of the late E. P. Thompson - his clarity, humanity, and breadth of learning - is present in this book.' Financial Times, 'The book stands as a tribute by an outstanding historian to an idiosyncratic genius.' Literary Review, 'Thompson speaks to us once more in his highly individual voice through the pages of this vital and challenging work.' Tribune, 'This book should go onto every undergraduate's reading list.' Evening Standard, 'A stunning, undoubtedly major work.' Anarchist Studies