In this boldly drawn portrait of eighteenth-century England, Roy Porter defines a nation from its princes to its paupers, from its metropolis to its smallest hamlet. The topics covered run the gamut, covering diet, housing, prisons, rural festivals, bordellos, plays, paintings, and work and wages. Roy Porter s new edition of his celebrated book of English cultural history was revised in light of changes in the climate of debate that occurred in the seven years after its first publication.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
A brilliant work....Porter s picture of eighteenth-century England is boldly drawn....He ranges far and wide, from princes and paupers and from the metropolis to the smallest hamlet. Stay-making and corsetry, prisons, rural festivals, diet and housing, bordellos and sex therapists...paintings and plays, work and wages, balloons and bastady are only a fraction of the topics covered by this breathtaking narrative....No one will fail to learn much from Porter s bustling book. --London Review of Books
Offers a succession of vivid images of thought, politics, work culture, deviance, sex-life and smell of eighteenth-century Englishmen....it is the gusto, the vigor and the fun that make this book. --Sunday Times
Covers a vast area of historical scholarship, both traditional and contemporary....His writing glows...and positively crackles when expressing the vigor and zest of what has been rightly called the age of exuberance. --Times Literary Supplement
Porter bowls through eighteenth-century society with the brash confidence of the rubicund tradesman whose world he recaptures so well, deploying formidable erudition, vigorous ideas and skillful expression to provide a book which should inform, arouse and provoke. --New Statesman --.
Vivid, witty, and entertaining....easily the best general account of eighteenth-century society that we have. --New York Review of Books
A brilliant work....Porter s picture of eighteenth-century England is boldly drawn....He ranges far and wide, from princes and paupers and from the metropolis to the smallest hamlet. Stay-making and corsetry, prisons, rural festivals, diet and housing, bordellos and sex therapists...paintings and plays, work and wages, balloons and bastady are only a fraction of the topics covered by this breathtaking narrative....No one will fail to learn much from Porter s bustling book. --London Review of Books
Offers a succession of vivid images of thought, politics, work culture, deviance, sex-life and smell of eighteenth-century Englishmen....it is the gusto, the vigor and the fun that make this book. --Sunday Times
Covers a vast area of historical scholarship, both traditional and contemporary....His writing glows...and positively crackles when expressing the vigor and zest of what has been rightly called the age of exuberance. --Times Literary Supplement
Porter bowls through eighteenth-century society with the brash confidence of the rubicund tradesman whose world he recaptures so well, deploying formidable erudition, vigorous ideas and skillful expression to provide a book which should inform, arouse and provoke. --New Statesman --.
Offers a succession of vivid images of thought, politics, work culture, deviance, sex-life and smell of eighteenth-century Englishmen....it is the gusto, the vigor and the fun that make this book. --Sunday Times
Covers a vast area of historical scholarship, both traditional and contemporary....His writing glows...and positively crackles when expressing the vigor and zest of what has been rightly called the age of exuberance. --Times Literary Supplement
Porter bowls through eighteenth-century society with the brash confidence of the rubicund tradesman whose world he recaptures so well, deploying formidable erudition, vigorous ideas and skillful expression to provide a book which should inform, arouse and provoke. --New Statesman --.
Vivid, witty, and entertaining....easily the best general account of eighteenth-century society that we have. --New York Review of Books
A brilliant work....Porter s picture of eighteenth-century England is boldly drawn....He ranges far and wide, from princes and paupers and from the metropolis to the smallest hamlet. Stay-making and corsetry, prisons, rural festivals, diet and housing, bordellos and sex therapists...paintings and plays, work and wages, balloons and bastady are only a fraction of the topics covered by this breathtaking narrative....No one will fail to learn much from Porter s bustling book. --London Review of Books
Offers a succession of vivid images of thought, politics, work culture, deviance, sex-life and smell of eighteenth-century Englishmen....it is the gusto, the vigor and the fun that make this book. --Sunday Times
Covers a vast area of historical scholarship, both traditional and contemporary....His writing glows...and positively crackles when expressing the vigor and zest of what has been rightly called the age of exuberance. --Times Literary Supplement
Porter bowls through eighteenth-century society with the brash confidence of the rubicund tradesman whose world he recaptures so well, deploying formidable erudition, vigorous ideas and skillful expression to provide a book which should inform, arouse and provoke. --New Statesman --.
About the Author
ROY PORTER (1946 2002) was a British historian noted for his prolific work on the history of medicine. He wrote or edited over 100 books. In addition to the history of medicine and other sciences, he specialized in the social history of eighteenth-century Britain and the Enlightenment. He also wrote and lectured on the history of London. He was, until his retirement, professor in the social history of medicine department at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
60 of 61 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Immensely interesting!,
By Dianne (US) - See all my reviews
This review is from: English Society in the Eighteenth Century, Second Edition (The Penguin Social History of Britain) (Paperback)
I enjoyed this book so much that I look forward to reading more of Porter's books.Some readers may find it necessary to keep a dictionary close by, but don't let this put you off if you are interested in the social history of England in the 18th century. The author manages to balance dry statistics with extremely interesting facts, all written in a reader-friendly manner. Chapter headings such as "Power, Politics and the Law" and "Having and Enjoying" give you an idea of the wide scope of the book. The reader will find more enjoyment in reading 18th century works (novels, biography and non-fiction) after being educated by this book. I oftentimes read, then sell my books. This is one I will not sell. I only wish I had it in hardcover. If "What Jane Austen Knew and Charles Dickens Ate" (sic) left you crying for some serious information about this age, I recommend this book!
62 of 66 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Pure Delight,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: English Society in the Eighteenth Century, Second Edition (The Penguin Social History of Britain) (Paperback)
I come late to Porter, and I certainly wish I hadn't. It's almost enough to make me surrender my credentials as a dyed-in-the-wool lover of English History. The deceased physician-cum-historian was a prolific writer, turning out works on subjects as diverse as English manners and the social history of gout. But having now read two of his books, including this excellent overview of English society in the Georgian period, I realize what all the (quiet) fuss was about. Porter was simply a fabulous writer who happened to be an historian, the opposite too often not being the case. I doubt very much there is a better source in this subject for the general reader than this book. But if you buy it, by all means read it slowly and take time to savor the writing. The good news for me is that I have a lot of Porter yet to read, and I can't wait.
39 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Difficult but good,
By A Customer
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: English Society in the Eighteenth Century, Second Edition (The Penguin Social History of Britain) (Paperback)
This is a good study of English life of the 18th century. It is written by a brit, using their slang and spellings, at the college level. I found his comparisons of life in England to life on the European continent very interesting and informative. His slant on the individual liberties to which most Englishmen felt they were entitled was enlightening. This is a difficult book and I found myself looking up words in the dictionary frequently, but for someone who is seriously interested in knowing what life was like in Great Britain in the 1700s, it is a good choice.
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