John Ruskin, Unto this Last

Alicia A. McCartney (Cedarville College)

Ed. by Grace Moore, University of Otago
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.07: English Writing and Culture of the Victorian Period, 1837-1901.
Vol. editors: Gillian Fenwick (University of Toronto), Jessica E. Gossling (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Grace Moore (University of Otago)

Domains

Political Science

Dates

First circulation or publication 1860

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Essays/ Lectures (any)
Non-fictional prose

Resources

While the Victorian critic John Ruskin is best known for writings on art and Gothic architecture, he considered Unto This Last (1860) among his “best”, “truest”, and “most serviceable” works (Works XI.v). Unto This Last excoriates British industrial capitalism for reducing humans to the status of selfish machines. Ruskin attacks not just the economic theories of John Stuart Mill, Adam Smith, Thomas Robert Malthus, Jeremy Bentham, and David Ricardo, but their foundational definitions and moral premises. For Ruskin, wealth should involve the moral acquisition and use of intrinsically valuable goods, not the mere accumulation of capital. Ruskin proclaims, “There is no Wealth but Life”, arguing that national wealth can only be measured by “the greatest number of noble and happy human beings” (Works XI.72).

Unto This Last grew in influence until the mid-twentieth century, when...

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4090 words

Citation: McCartney, Alicia A.. "Unto this Last". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 November 2025 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8566, accessed 09 June 2026.]