William Morris was a man of abundant energy and many talents which he devoted to art, literature, and social justice. His life was one of constant creativity as designer, craftsman, writer, translator, lecturer, calligrapher, merchant, medievalist, socialist, typographer, printer, environmentalist, and pioneer in architectural preservation. His contributions to these fields were significant and frequently influential. In all of his endeavors Morris showed his devotion to beauty in nature and in the works of mankind and to the creation of a society in which mastery had given way to fellowship. He hated ugliness, the economic exploitation of human beings and of the environment, and the poor quality often associated with profitable mass production. He was best known in his day as the author of the long narrative poems in The Earthly Paradise (1868-1870), as the designer of attractive wallpapers and fabrics which were sold from his shop in London...