A bold attempt to rewind political orthodoxies; to reintroduce class as a political variable … It moves in and out of postwar British history with great agility, weaving together complex questions of class, culture and identity with a lightness of touch. Jones torches the political class to great effect.’

Jon Cruddas, Independent

‘It is a timely book. The white working class seems to be the one group in society that it is still acceptable to sneer at, ridicule, even incite hatred against … Forensically … Jones seeks to explain how, thanks to politics, the working class has shifted from being regarded as “the salt of the earth to the scum of the earth”.’

Carol Midgley, Times

‘A lively, well-reasoned and informative counterblast to the notion that Britain is now more or less a classless society.’

Sean O’Hagan, Observer

‘Impassioned and thought-provoking … I genuinely hope his voice is heard.’

Claire Black, Scotland on Sunday

‘A trenchant exposure of our new class hatred and what lies behind it.’

John Carey, author of The Intellectuals and the Masses

‘The stereotyping and hatred of the working class in Britain, documented so clearly by Owen Jones in this important book, should cause all to flinch … the stigmatization of the working class is a serious barrier to social justice and progressive change.’

Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson, authors of The Spirit Level

‘A fascinating piece of social reportage and insight, there are echoes of George Orwell’s brilliant non-fiction in Chavs’.

Doug Johnstone, Big Issue in Scotland

‘Chavs is persuasively argued, and packed full of good reporting and useful information … [Jones] makes an important contribution to a revivified debate about class.’

Lynsey Hanley, author of Estates: An Intimate History

‘Jones’s analysis of the condition of the working class is very astute … A book like this is very much needed for the American scene, where the illusion is similarly perpetuated by the Democrats that the middle class is all that matters, that everyone can aspire to join the middle class or is already part of it.’

Huffington Post

‘A blinding read.’

Suzanne Moore, Guardian

‘[A] thought-provoking examination of a relatively new yet widespread derogatory characterization of the working class in Britain … edifying and disquieting in equal measure.’

Publishers Weekly

‘A fiery reminder of how the system has failed the poor.’

Peter Hoskin, Daily Beast

‘Seen in the light of the riots and the worldwide Occupy protests, his lucid analysis of a divided society appears uncannily prescient.’

Matthew Higgs, Artforum

‘A passionate and well-documented denunciation of the upper-class contempt for the proles that has recently become so visible in the British class system.’

Eric Hobsbawm, Guardian Books of the Year

‘Mr. Jones’s book is a cleareyed examination of the British class system, and it poses this brutal question: “How has hatred of working-class people become so socially acceptable?” His timely answers combine wit, left-wing politics and outrage.’

Dwight Garner, New York Times