What can the study of narratives bring to our understanding of political ideas that other forms of analysis cannot? In Narratives of British Socialism , Stephen Ingle shows how imaginative literature can be used to give definition to political thought. The origins, development and eventual decline of British socialism are analyzed in the writings of Morris, Shaw, Wells, Huxley, Koestler, Orwell and others. Ingle concludes that narratives can give us an experiential understanding of political ideas.