ABSTRACT
A real confrontation-any open conflict between scholars is a purgative experience, according to the Times Literary Supplement. Purgative perhaps, especially for the contestants, but also enlightening, especially for those who try to assess the evidence used and conclusions established in the confrontation. A great part of the effectiveness of Mr Thompson's book lies in its documentation and extensive use of quotation. Mr Thompson is mainly concerned with class, which he defines as a historical phenomenon unifying a number of disparate and seemingly unconnected events, both in the raw material of existence and in consciousness. He is very readable on Methodism, a ritualized form of psychic masturbation whose box-like, blackening chapels stood in the industrial districts like great traps for the human psyche. His book can be interpreted as an important intervention in the standard-of-living controversy. His book will be widely read and influential, and will reinforce a view of the industrial revolution whose exponents have been recently under increasing attack.
