From Publishers Weekly
Seventy-two years after the publication of Lytton Strachey's book of the same title, an Oxford biographer (of Belloc, Milton, Scott and Tolstoy) "with the sole aim of finding out what they were like" reexamines six individuals who turned "Victorian values" upside down. Included are: Prince Albert, a foreigner who remade the monarchy; Charlotte Bronte, whose private fantasy became a highly popular novel ( Jane Eyre ); Gladstone, the grand old Liberal leader who was virtually synonymous with the Victorian church and state; John Henry Newman, whose conversion from the Church of England propelled Roman Catholicism into a position of vigor and power; Josephine Butler, feminist and reformer who changed the conscience of society; Julia Margaret Cameron, whose photographs are memorable images of the age. Wilson's prose is sometimes careless but serviceably fills what would otherwise be white space between the excellent illustrations in this vestige of coffee-table-book publishing.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Though borrowing the title of Lytton Strachey's famous collection of biographical vignettes, this work is strikingly different. Where Strachey played fast and loose with facts, indulging in a sort of high-brow "National Enquirer" mentality, Wilson is serious and makes every effort at educating as opposed to exposing. As a result the six individuals he profiles--Prince Albert, Charlotte Bronte, William E. Gladstone, Cardinal Newman, Josephine Butler, and Julia Margaret Cameron--are treated with sympathy and accuracy. His portraits are balanced (even to an equal division between the sexes in coverage), and equally important, he provides a better understanding of the age through the lives of key Victorians. Recommended for academic and public libraries.
- James Casada, Winthrop Coll., Rock Hill, S.C.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- James Casada, Winthrop Coll., Rock Hill, S.C.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
