E.G. West is indisputably a major thinker in education. James Tooley's volume offers the most coherent account of West's educational thought.

Volume 14 in Continuum's Library of Educational Thought focuses upon E.G. West’s hugely influential ideas on the role of the government in education.

The author provides: an overview of West’s perspective, the origin of his ideas, analysis of his other publications, a critique of his work, new evidence, all within the context of a modern framework.

James Tooley follows the arguments raised in West’s seminal work 'Education and the State' in detail, supplementing them with insights from other areas of his work to clarify and develop the themes raised.

Series description: A major international reference series providing comprehensive accounts of the work of seminal educational thinkers from a variety of periods, disciplines and traditions. It is the most ambitious and prestigious such project ever published - a definitive resource for at least a generation. The thinkers include: Aquinas, Aristotle, Bourdieu, Bruner, Dewey, Foucault, Freire, Holt, Kant, Locke, Montessori, Neill, Newman, Owen, Peters, Piaget, Plato, Rousseau, Steiner, Vygotsky, West and Wollstonecraft.