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.
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. Chris MacDonnell is a classically trained actor who graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) in 1973. He has an excellent reputation in the U.K. for playing leading and supporting roles in theater, television, radio drama, and films. His theater credits include London's West End and the Royal National Theatre. He's also featured in British TV shows, BBC radio-drama, commercials, and films. In the U.S. he's voiced many commercials, promos, games, and animations. He's also a featured character in the historical drama set against the backdrop of the American War of Independence, Courage, New Hampshire for PBS, in which he plays Merry Pugwell. He came to narration in 2013, and since then he's recorded over twenty titles in a variety of genres, including epic fantasy, thrillers, historical romance, and biography. Chris now lives and works in Southern California, where his forty-year career continues to flourish.
Review :
"An enjoyable book full of anecdotes and scenarios of both the rich and famous, the poor and exploited alike."
--History Today "History Today"
"Arguing that Britain truly started to become modern in the Regency era, this delightful book explains why it deserves to be better known."
--The Economist (London) "The Economist (London)"
"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.'"
--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Publishers Weekly (starred review) "
"Elegant, entertaining and frequently surprising."
--New York Times "New York Times"
"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?"
--Washington Post "Washington Post"
