The Regency Years – During Which Jane Austen Writes, Napoleon Fights, Byron Makes Love, and Britain Becomes Modern - Hardcover

Morrison, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393249050 ISBN 13: 9780393249057

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2019

The Victorians are often credited with ushering in our current era, yet the seeds of change were planted in the years before. The Regency (1811-1820) began when the profligate Prince of Wales-the future king George IV-replaced his insane father, George III, as Britain's ruler. Around the regent surged a society steeped in contrasts: evangelicalism and hedonism, elegance and brutality, exuberance and despair. The arts flourished at this time with a showcase of extraordinary writers and painters such as Jane Austen, Lord Byron, the Shelleys, John Constable, and J. M. W. Turner. Science burgeoned during this decade, too, giving us the steam locomotive and the blueprint for the modern computer. Yet the dark side of the era was visible in poverty, slavery, pornography, opium, and the gothic imaginings that birthed the novel Frankenstein. With the British military in foreign lands, fighting the Napoleonic Wars in Europe and the War of 1812 in the United States, the desire for empire and an expanding colonial enterprise gained unstoppable momentum. Exploring these crosscurrents, Robert Morrison illuminates the profound ways this period shaped and indelibly marked the modern world.

Review:

The Regency Years investigates actors, artists, and prizefighters; heroes, criminals, harlots, and statesmen. It deals with--among other things--books, battles, and scientific discoveries. Its unexpected conjunctions both illuminate a momentous decade of the early nineteenth century and shed unexpected light on our own time. Readers of this brilliant book will enjoy a rich experience, full of memorable surprises.--Patricia Meyer Spacks, Edgar F. Shannon Professor of English, University of Virginia

Robert Morrison is my ideal of what a scholar should be--lively and interesting, he makes the past relevant to today.--David Morrell, author of the Thomas and Emily De Quincey trilogy

Delightful...Morrison's lively and engaging study not only illuminates these many and rapid changes, but convincingly argues that 'its many legacies are still all around us.'

Morrison gathers a broad range of topics into a strong, cohesive and fast moving narrative. An excellent introduction for readers new to the period and a fresh take for Regency enthusiasts.

An intriguing discussion on the finer and more fascinating aspects of the Regency period that will appeal to history buffs.

The Prince Regent...ruled over a period of extraordinary creativity and it is that progressive cultural legacy that Mr. Morrison commends to contemporary Britain and the rest of the world.--Ruth Scurr

The Regency Years reads like a romance novel of its period without the novel but makes an entertaining nonfiction read with superior prose and dialogue.--Robert Davis

Superb...The Regency period lasted for less than a decade but, as Mr Morrison argues, 'its many legacies are still all around us.' It was also, as this book amply proves, marvellously entertaining.

Elegant, entertaining and frequently surprising.--Miranda Seymour

Morrison showcases that relatively brief period--less than a decade--as an age of 'remarkable diversity, upheaval, and elegance.'...Given such plenty, what more could one ask from a work of cultural history?--Michael Dirda

About the Author:

Robert Morrison, author of The Regency Years and The English Opium-Eater, a finalist for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, is Queen's National Scholar at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. He has produced editions of works by Jane Austen, Thomas De Quincey, Leigh Hunt, and John Polidori. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and lives in Brewer's Mills, Ontario.

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 0393249050
• ISBN 13: 9780393249057
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 416