In his preface, Kenneth Morgan writes. ''Keir Hardie is by any test a decisive figure in the making of twentieth-century Britain. More than any other man. he was the maker of the modern Labour Party. . . Yet already he seems an elusive, almost forgotten figure . . .''
It is Kenneth Morgan''s supreme achievement to rescue Keir Hardie from his status as a sort of mythical figurehead and to present him as a more interesting, complex and credible person. In the context of the emerging Labour movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, we see Keir Hardie as pacifist, internationalist, feminist, radical and socialist; a great man if always somewhat out of step with his time.
''Deeply sympathetic, impeccably scholarly and beautifully written. . . It brings out the full complexity of Hardie''s character and the full range of his interests. Hardie is brought back to life'' A . J. P. Taylor
''Excellent . . . the first complete biography by a professional historian'' Asa Briggs, Times Literary Supplement
''Written with tempered sympathy and considered judgement. With grace and assurance, this book is an imposing achievement'' Stephen Koss
