Victorious Century

The United Kingdom, 1800–1906

Reeks: Penguin History of Britain

€9,49
  • 'This
  • is
  • stupendous.
  • The
  • British
  • nineteenth
  • century,
  • in
  • all
  • its
  • complexity,
  • all
  • its
  • horror,
  • all
  • its
  • energy,
  • all
  • its
  • hopes
  • is
  • laid
  • bare.
  • This
  • is
  • the
  • definitive
  • history
  • ,
  • and
  • will
  • remain
  • so
  • for
  • generations'
  • A.N.
  • WilsonTo
  • live
  • in
  • Victorian
  • Britain
  • was
  • to
  • experience
  • an
  • astonishing
  • series
  • of
  • changes,
  • of
  • a
  • kind
  • for
  • which
  • there
  • was
  • simply
  • no
  • precedent
  • in
  • the
  • human
  • experience.
  • There
  • were
  • revolutions
  • in
  • transport,
  • communication,
  • work;
  • cities
  • grew
  • vast;
  • scientific
  • ideas
  • made
  • the
  • intellectual
  • landscape
  • unrecognizable.
  • This
  • was
  • an
  • exhilarating
  • time,
  • but
  • also
  • a
  • horrifying
  • one.In
  • his
  • major
  • new
  • book
  • David
  • Cannadine
  • has
  • created
  • a
  • bold,
  • fascinating
  • new
  • interpretation
  • of
  • Victorian
  • Britain.
  • This
  • was
  • a
  • country
  • which
  • saw
  • itself
  • at
  • the
  • summit
  • of
  • the
  • world
  • and
  • by
  • some
  • measures
  • this
  • was
  • indeed
  • true.
  • And
  • yet
  • it
  • was
  • a
  • society
  • also
  • convulsed
  • by
  • doubt,
  • fear
  • and
  • introspection.
  • Repeatedly,
  • politicians
  • and
  • writers
  • felt
  • themselves
  • to
  • be
  • staring
  • into
  • the
  • abyss
  • and
  • what
  • is
  • seen
  • as
  • an
  • era
  • of
  • irritating
  • self-belief
  • was
  • in
  • practice
  • obsessed
  • by
  • a
  • sense
  • of
  • its
  • own
  • fragility,
  • whether
  • as
  • a
  • great
  • power
  • or
  • as
  • a
  • moral
  • force.Victorious
  • Century
  • is
  • an
  • extraordinarily
  • enjoyable
  • and
  • stimulating
  • book
  • -
  • its
  • author
  • catches
  • the
  • relish,
  • humour
  • and
  • staginess
  • of
  • the
  • age,
  • but
  • also
  • the
  • dilemmas
  • of
  • a
  • kind
  • with
  • which
  • we
  • remain
  • familiar today.
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