John Ruskin (1819-1900) was a powerhouse of a man: writer, lecturer, critic, social reformer - and much else besides. From his five-volume work Modern Painters through his late writings about literature in Fiction, Fair and Foul, he brought to his subjects an energy and integrity that few critical thinkers have matched. His wide-ranging influence reached everyone from Tolstoy, who called him "one of the most remarkable men not only of England of our generation, but of all countries and times," to Gandhi, who wrote of the "magic spell" that Ruskin's works brought about. In this episode, Jacke talks to Sara Atwood (Ruskin's Educational Ideals) about the man whom Proust called "for me one of the greatest writers of all times and of all countries." PLUS Collin Jennings (Enlightenment Links: Theories of Mind and Media in Eighteenth-Century Britain) stops by to discuss his choice for the last book he will ever read.

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The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at gabrielruizbernal.com.

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