Industrialization in the 19th century, and the widespread human exploitation and personal alienation that characterized it, produced a crisis of faith and shook people’s confidence in the very concept of civilization. In this program, Matthew Collings follows in the footsteps of John Ruskin, a social critic who interpreted the ills of his era and believed that art could salve, and perhaps even save, the soul. J. M. W. Turner, William Morris, and the Pre-Raphaelites are spotlighted, along with locales particularly significant to Ruskin—the Alps, Venice, his beloved Lake District, and the blasted landscape of over-industrialized northern Britain. Original broadcast title: Save Our Souls. (49 minutes)