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Workers' Tales

Socialist Fairy Tales, Fables, and Allegories from Great BritainBy Unknown AuthorNarrated by Samuel West, John Telfer, Michael Rosen, Lisa Coleman, Ric Jerrom, Peter Kenny, Miriam Margolyes

Length9h 45m

About this audiobook

This audiobook narrated by acclaimed critic and author Michael Rosen breathes new life into the political tales first published in British workers' magazines With additional narration by Lisa Coleman, Ric Jerrom, Peter Kenny, Miriam Margolyes, John Telfer, and Samuel West In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, unique tales inspired by traditional literary forms appeared frequently in socialist-leaning British periodicals, such as the Clarion, Labour Leader, and Social Democrat. Based on familiar genres—the fairy tale, fable, allegory, parable, and moral tale—and penned by a range of lesser-known and celebrated authors, including Schalom Asch, Charles Allen Clarke, Frederick James Gould, and William Morris, these stories were meant to entertain readers of all ages—and some challenged the conventional values promoted in children's literature for the middle class. In Workers' Tales, acclaimed critic and author Michael Rosen brings together more than forty of the best and most enduring examples of these stories in one beautiful volume. Throughout, the tales in this collection exemplify themes and ideas related to work and the class system, sometimes in wish-fulfilling ways. In "Tom Hickathrift," a little, poor person gets the better of a gigantic, wealthy one. In "The Man Without a Heart," a man learns about the value of basic labor after testing out more privileged lives. And in "The Political Economist and the Flowers," two contrasting gardeners highlight the cold heart of Darwinian competition. Rosen's informative introduction describes how such tales advocated for contemporary progressive causes and countered the dominant celebration of Britain's imperial values. Provocative and enlightening, Workers' Tales presents voices of resistance that are more relevant than ever before.

Audiobook details

GenreGeneral Fiction, Children's Literature

Length9 hrs 45 mins

Narrated bySamuel West, John Telfer, Michael Rosen, Lisa Coleman, Ric Jerrom, Peter Kenny, Miriam Margolyes

FormatAudiobook

Publish dateOct 23, 2018

LanguageEnglish

1Opening Anno, Introduction

25The Golden Egg by Joseph Grose, 1901

2Tales, An Old Fable Retold by William Morris, 1884

26When Death Crossed the Threshold by E. Whittaker, 1903

3Fables for the Times—I: The Monkeys and the Nuts by 'Utile Dulci', 1884

27The Doll Shop by Frank Starr, 1903

4Fables for the Times—II: The Political Economist and the Flowers by Anonymous, 1884

28The Scarlet Shoes. (The Story of a Serio-comic Walking Tour and its Tragic End.) by Harford Willson, 1906

5Aristos and Demos by D. F. Hannigan, 1887

29He, She, and It by M. Winchevsky, 1906

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6A Dream of Queer Fishes (A Modern Prose Idyll) by H.S.S., 1887

30An Idyll of the Dover Road. A True Story by McGinnis, 1907

7Chips by H. Bellingham, 1888

31His Sister. A Little Spangle of Real Life by Glanville Maidstone, 1907

8Nobody's Business by Elihu, 1892

32"Happy Valley." A Fairy Tale by Anonymous, 1907

9The History of a Giant: Being a Study in Politics for Very Young Boys by Keir Hardie, 1893

33The Peasants and the Parasites. A Fable by R. B. Suthers, 1908

10The Man without a Heart by F. J. Gould, 1893

34The Eternal Feminine by C. L. Everard, 1908

11A Terrible Crime by Dan Baxter, 1893

35The Myopians' Muddle by Victor Grayson, 1909

12Tom Hickathrift Edited by Joseph Jacobs, 1894

36A Martian's Visit to Earth. Being a Literal Translation into English of the Preface to an Account by a Martian of his Visit to England by A. L. Grey, 1909

13Jack Clearhead: A Fairy Tale for crusaders, and to be read by them to their fathers and mothers by Keir Hardie M.P., 1894

37Nightmare Bridge by Glanville Maidstone, 1910

14The Four Friends: A Translation by Anonymous, 1894

38The Fool and the Wise Man by W. Anderson, 1910

15The Princesses by J. H., 1895 (adapted)

39The May-Day Festival in the Year 1970 by 'Optimus', 1911

16The New Shilling by Dan Baxter, 1895

40Mary Davis; or the Fate of a Proletarian Family. A Lesson Given to the Glasgow S.L.P. Socialist Sunday School Tom Anderson, 1912

17The Harebell's Sermon by 'The Fairy', 1895

41The Lost Vision. A Spring Fantasy by Victor Grayson, 1912

18Little Red Riding Hood by C. Allen Clarke, 1895

42The Aerial Armada. What Took Place in A.D. 2000 by Frank Starr, 1913