N K Mikhailovsky was a Russian journalist, critic and sociologist whose Populist (Narodnik) movement was highly influential on revolutionary thought in the nineteenth century. Dr Mathura's scholarly analysis takes us behind the scenes to unmask this eminence grise of socialism and set him in the context of the inevitable march towards communism, contrasting his approach with that of Spencer, Plekhanov and Marx. Mikhailovsky's essentially liberal cast of mind and his 'socialism of the deed' allowed the man in the street or fields a voice in his own destiny, rather than seeing him trampled by the juggernaut of 'historical process'. Interestingly, this finely researched and well-referenced work points up one of the oddities of moneyed capitalism - the increasing 'atomisation' of people in society. That said, Mikhailovsky's theory of progress was determined by his attitude not to man in 'society' - which he considered an abstraction (like Margaret Thatcher), but to his individual personality itself. As such, his influence is surely felt today, and makes a rewarding subject of study.