The Rise of Respectable Society: A Social History of Victorian Britain, 1830-1900 - Softcover

Thompson, F. M. L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674772865 ISBN 13: 9780674772861

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1990

Synopsis

A Social History of Victorian Britain, 1830-1900

About this title

Review:

In both content and style İThompson¨ sets a high standard for his fellow authors to follow...Packed with interesting and challenging examples and reflections...İThompson has¨ fitted recent research into an impressive framework that will long remain a starting point for future discussion. -- Neville Thompson "History"

impressive framework that will long remain a starting point for future discussion.

ré sumé , and will be invaluable to the student and of much interest to what used to be called the intelligent lay reader.

of the relevant historical literature...With its generous scope and its well-considered selection of details, the rewards of...[an] energetic perusal of "The Rise of Respectable Society" can be great.

In both content and style [Thompson] sets a high standard for his fellow authors to follow...Packed with interesting and challenging examples and reflections...[Thompson has] fitted recent research into an impressive framework that will long remain a starting point for future discussion.--Neville Thompson "History "

This is a major study of Victorian society by one of our leading historians, the product of immensely wide reading and mature consideration. It offers a synthesis of the mass of new research material which has appeared since G. M. Young's Portrait of an Age and G. D. H. Cole's The Common People half a century ago...Each chapter is an excellent, authoritative and elegant rEsumE, and will be invaluable to the student and of much interest to what used to be called the intelligent lay reader.--John Burnett "Times Literary Supplement "

Anyone with more than a passing interest in nineteenth-century Britain should be grateful for The Rise of Respectable Society...[It is] culled from a broad and scrupulous reading of the relevant historical literature...With its generous scope and its well-considered selection of details, the rewards of...[an] energetic perusal of The Rise of Respectable Society can be great.--Harriet Ritvo "New York Times "

From the Back Cover:

In the fifty years since the appearance of G. M: Young's brilliant survey, 'Victorian England: Portrait of an Age', a mass of new research from new perspectives has entirely changed the landscape of the Victorian era. ' The Rise of Respectable Society' offers a new map of this territory as revealed be close empirical studies of marriage, the family, domestic life, work, leisure and entertainment. In doing so it rescues the middle and working classes from the rigidity of the class stereotypes by which they have been frequently portrayed. But it also argues that the diversity of cultures within those classes was in fact the essence of Victorian society, and that as each class developed its notions of self-respect, so it adhered ever more closely to the classes above and below it, thus avoiding the revolutionary fractures which appeared in many other European countries during this period.

For the quality of its research and the clarity of its synthesis, 'The Rise of Respectable Society' will gain a reputation as an outstanding reinterpretation of the Victorian period.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0674772865
• ISBN 13: 9780674772861
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 382