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During Which Jane Austen Writes, Napoleon Fights, Byron Makes Love, and Britain Becomes Modern
by Robert Morrison
A surprising and lively history of an overlooked era that brought the modern world of art, culture, and science decisively into view.
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.
"Starred Review. 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
"A lively new chronicle brings crisp focus to a significant decade in British history and culture…Morrison expertly encapsulates the brief, radical trends and movements of this era." - Kirkus Reviews
"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." - Booklist
"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
This information about The Regency Years was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
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.
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