One of this century's foremost historians describes the complex culture from which working class institutions emerged in England.

作者选取英国工业革命时期的工人为考察对象，用阶级分析和阶级斗争的观点解释历史，阐述了他关于阶级和阶级“形成”的理论。

"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."-- Commentary "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."--London Times Literary Supplement