Socialism and Superior Brains: The Political Thought of George Bernard Shaw The Political Thought of George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw was the master intellectual of British socialism and has been one of the most influential political commentators of the twentieth century. "Socialism and Superior Brains" provides a comprehensive critical account of his political ideas.
Shaw assumed many roles as a thinker, including those of artist-philosopher, clowning prophet, and pamphleteer. This book explains the methods he employed, the levels of abstraction at which his thought operated, and the intentions which informed his epic engagement with ideas. Part One provides an intellectual biography, while at the same time analyzing Shaw's concerns in relation to his Fabianism, arguments for equality of income, and ideas on democracy and education. Part Two looks at those areas which Shaw approached as long-standing historical problems or dramas requiring immediate thought or action: sexual equality, the Irish question, war, fascism and Sovietism.
This book is directed to the general reader as well as the specialist. It will be central reading for anyone seeking to understand Shaw's life, his literary and political writings, or the development of political thinking in this century.

Available in paperback for the first time, Gareth Griffith's book provides a comprehensive critical account of the political ideas of one of the most influential commentators of the twentieth century.With close reference to a range of Shaw's texts, from the Fabian tracts to the plays, Gareth Griffith draws out the central theoretical messages of Shaw's engagement with politics. The first part of the book provides an intellectual biography, while at the same time analysing Shaw's key concerns in relation to his Fabianism, arguments for equality of income and ideas on democracy and education. Part Two looks at those areas which Shaw approached as long-standing historical problems or dramas requiring immediate thought or action; sexual equality, the Irish question, war, fascism and sovietism.The book is directed to the general reader as well as to specialists. It will be central reading for anyone seeking to understand Shaw's life, and literary and political writings, or the development of political thinking in this century, or the problems and potential inherent in socialism.