David Goodway surveys key figures, among them Gerald Brenan, G.K. Chesterton, G.D.H. Cole, George Orwell, Raphael Samuel, E.P. Thompson and Colin Ward. He reflects on literature and experience, offering insights on the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the Spanish revolution, and the Peckham Health Centre as the model for an alternative to the Welfare State.​

This anthology includes new and pioneering coverage of the Rossetti sisters addressing an episode in the very early days of anarchist activity in the UK. ‘Throughout, there runs an emphasis on the connection between British left-libertarianism and literature’. ​