Biographer Jenny Uglow has already written extensively and
brilliantly on 18th and 19th literature and culture, notably in
biographies of Hogarth and Mrs Gaskell, and this new work can only
add to her reputation for meticulous scholarship lightly worn. The
18th century was one of clubs, and the like-minded men of the title
belonged to the Lunar Society of Birmingham, which met on the
nearest Monday to the full moon, so that their various ways home
would be well-lit. But this was no ordinary gathering, and Uglow
describes how these gifted individuals nudged their whole society
and culture towards today's world. Most of the Lunar men were
provincial men, gifted amateurs and Nonconformists, the latter fact
being a strength which freed them from the tyranny of tradition and
established institutions; they were also united by a love of
science and of the new. With astonishing energy, they built
factories and canals, discovered new minerals, gases and medicines,
created beautiful porcelain, added to the knowledge of botany,
coined new words and wrote poetry. Considering themselves to be
'natural philosophers', they acknowledged no division between the
sciences and humanities and were interested in politics, religion
and education. They were usually dedicated family men and equally
dedicated friends. The core of the Society was the quintet
consisting of Erasmus Darwin, doctor, inventor and poet,
manufacturer Matthew Boulton and his business partner James Watt, a
pioneer of steam power, potter Josiah Wedgwood and Joseph
Priestley, the chemist responsible for the soda-water taken on
Captain Cook's voyages, and a preacher and leader of Radical
Dissent. But there were others equally talented who joined them in
the exchange and cross-fertilization of ideas and information and
in their love of invention and experiment. It is Uglow's great
achievement to bind individual lives and the narrative together in
a fascinating and memorable book. (Kirkus UK)
In the 1760s a group of amateur experimenters met and made friends
in the Midlands. Most came from humble families, all lived far from
the centre of things, but they were young and their optimism was
boundless: together they would change the world. Among them were
the ambitious toy-maker Matthew Boulton and his partner James Watt,
of steam-engine fame; the potter Josiah Wedgewood; the
larger-than-life Erasmus Darwin, physician, poet, inventor and
theorist of evolution (a forerunner of his grandson Charles). Later
came Joseph Priestley, discoverer of oxygen and fighting radical.
With a small band of allies they formed the Lunar Society of
Birmingham (so called because it met at each full moon) and
kick-started the Industrial Revolution. Blending science, art and
commerce, the "Lunar Men" built canals, launched balloons, named
plants, gases and minerals, changed the face of England and the
china in its drawing rooms and plotted to revolutionize its soul.
This exhilarating account uncovers the friendships, political
passions, love affairs, and love of knowledge (and power) that
drove these extraordinary men. It echoes to the thud of pistons and
the wheeze and snort of engines, and bri
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