'Ackroyd makes history accessible to the layman' - Ian Thomson,
Independent
The penultimate volume of Peter Ackroyd’s masterful History of England
series, Dominion begins in 1815 as national glory following the Battle
of Waterloo gives way to post-war depression, spanning the last years
of the Regency to the death of Queen Victoria in January 1901.
In it, Ackroyd takes us from the accession of the profligate George IV
whose government was steered by Lord Liverpool, who was firmly set
against reform, to the reign of his brother, William IV, the 'Sailor
King', whose reign saw the modernization of the political system and
the abolition of slavery.
But it was the accession of Queen Victoria, aged only eighteen, that
sparked an era of enormous innovation. Technological progress – from
steam railways to the first telegram – swept the nation and the finest
inventions were showcased at the first Great Exhibition in 1851. The
emergence of the middle classes changed the shape of society and
scientific advances changed the old pieties of the Church of England,
and spread secular ideas across the nation. But though intense
industrialization brought boom times for the factory owners, the
working classes were still subjected to poor housing, long working
hours and dire poverty.
It was a time that saw a flowering of great literature, too. As the
Georgian era gave way to that of Victoria, readers could delight not
only in the work of Byron, Shelley and Wordsworth but also the great
nineteenth-century novelists: the Brontė sisters, George Eliot, Mrs
Gaskell, Thackeray, and, of course, Dickens, whose work has become
synonymous with Victorian England.
Nor was Victorian expansionism confined to Britain alone. By the end of
Victoria’s reign, the Queen was also an Empress and the British Empire
dominated much of the globe. And, as Ackroyd shows in this richly
populated, vividly told account, Britannia really did seem to rule the
waves.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
