Consuming Passions: Leisure and Pleasure in Victorian Britain

Consuming Passions: Leisure and Pleasure in Victorian Britain

by JudithFlanders (Author)

Synopsis

This book presents a delightful and fascinating social history of Victorians at leisure, told through the letters, diaries, journals and novels of 19th-century men and women from the author of the bestselling "The Victorian House". Imagine a world where only one in five people owns a book, where just one in ten has a knife or a fork - a world where five people out of every six do not own a cup to hold a hot drink. That was what England was like in the early eighteenth century. Yet by the close of the nineteenth century, the Industrial Revolution had brought with it not just factories, railways, mines and machines but also brought fashion, travel, leisure and pleasure. Leisure became an industry, a cornucopia of excitement for the masses. And it was spread by newspapers, by advertising, by promotions and publicity - all eighteenth, not twentieth century creations. It was Josiah Wedgwood and his colleagues who invented money-back guarantees, free delivery, and celebrity endorsements. New technology such as the railways brought audiences to ever-more-elaborate extravaganzas, whether it was theatrical spectaculars with breathtaking pyrotechnics and hundreds of extras, 'hippodramas' recreating the battle of Waterloo, or the Great Exhibition itself, proudly displaying 'the products of all quarters of the globe' under twenty-two acres of a sparkling 'Crystal Palace'. In "Consuming Passions", the bestselling author of "The Victorian House" explores this dramatic revolution in science, technology and industry - and how a world of thrilling sensation, lavish spectacle and unimaginable theatricality was born.

$4.17

Save:$20.57 (83%)

Quantity

2 in stock

More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 448
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: HarperPress
Published: 21 Aug 2006

ISBN 10: 0007172958
ISBN 13: 9780007172955

Media Reviews
Praise for 'The Victorian House': 'This book is a splendidly entertaining read, and it also breaks new ground. No one has ever written so interestingly or wittily about housework.' The Spectator 'Judith Flanders' artful arrangement of fascinating facts brings new life to people (mostly female) and places (all domestic) that traditional history ignored.' Literary Review 'Rich and well ordered, this study casts brilliant light!Curious facts tumble from the pages.' The Economist
Author Bio
Judith Flanders is the author of critically acclaimed 'A Circle of Sisters' (2001), nominated for the Guardian First Book Award, and the best-selling 'The Victorian House'. She is a frequent contributor to the Daily Telegraph, the Guardian, the Evening Standard and the Times Literary Supplement.