Inventing the Victorians

Rating:
Summary: What the Victorian world was *really* like
Review: I consider myself something of a minor student of the Victorian era, and when I hear pundits and commentators disparaging the Victorians, they often seemed to me to be talking in terms of stereotypes, rather than reality. Apparently, this same observation has aroused Matthew Sweet to write this monograph, to set the record straight. Herein, Mr. Sweet looks at what the Victorians were really like, and how they lived lives surprisingly similar to modern Britons. The book contains chapters on such things as Victorian freak shows, pornography, morals, and so much more.

I found this book to be a quite fascinating history, one that covers subjects rarely found in other history books. The author left very few stones unturned, covering subjects with a surprising frankness. My one complaint against this book is that I did find the chapters a little too long, with the author dragging out the subject to near exhaustion. However, I must say that that is a matter of taste, and another reader might quite enjoy the depth of detail.

So, if you are interested in the Victorians, and what the Victorian world was *really* like, then I highly recommend that you get this book!

Rating:
Summary: Good, but a bit limited
Review: Sweet provides good refutation for some of the unfortunate images of the Victorian world (Sweet demonstrates that some Victorians allowed naked piano legs!). :-) He offers delightful, detailed accounts of Victorian tightrope walkers (Blondin), opium sellers, "freaks," and homosexuals, among others. However, 232 pages of anecdotes and examples just does not provide enough range to demonstrate that "Everything we think we know about the Victorians is wrong." It is a huge topic, rather larger than this quite enjoyable book.