There is a fashionable modern belief that intellectual life belongs to latte drinkers and university graduates.
Jonathan Rose, in The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes, presents a less flattering alternative. The real intellectual heavy lifting in 19th-century Britain was being done by people covered in coal dust.
Miners, Mill Workers, Cabinet Makers Were the Engines of Culture
After 14 hours underground, they didn’t collapse onto sofas; they picked up Shakespeare, Milton, Dickens, and even Plato—with a seriousness that makes our modern “to be read” piles look like decoration.
Nicole James
Author
Nicole James is a freelance journalist for The Epoch Times based in Australia. She is an award-winning short story writer, journalist, columnist, and editor. Her work has appeared in newspapers including The Sydney Morning Herald, Sun-Herald, The Australian, the Sunday Times, and the Sunday Telegraph. She holds a BA Communications majoring in journalism and two post graduate degrees, one in creative writing.
