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visorforavisor's review against another edition
funny
informative
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
5.0
Ruth Goodman has absolutely excelled with How To Be a Victorian. It is a near-comprehensive, innovative and captivating look into the life of the ordinary Victorian, from the famine-starved family in Co Cork to the Welsh miner and to the sex worker of the East End.
This book goes from the start to the end of the day, and thoroughly investigates pretty much every aspect of daily life in all social classes.
Passages I found particularly interesting include: sport differences between different social classes, the secret signals used to indicate homosexual desires, the development of girls’ education, the role of the pub in daily life, and the descriptions of meals.
Throughout the book, Ms Goodman draws from a variety of primary sources such as diaries, adverts, and the like, as well as her own personal experience living in a Victorian lifestyle (for example, that wearing a corset does not bother her when she wears one that fits her while doing the sort of work that the back support of a corset was designed for, and likewise that she finds the supposedly bland Victorian diet to be so because it perfectly suits the needs of a body doing Victorian work). The book is expertly cited at every point and hilarious in its transferring of Victorian habits to modern day. (As an example, the same calisthenics that helped Victorian young women stretch after spending all day at a sampler is declared to also help modern young women who spend all day at a laptop!)
With this book, a really good understanding of real life between 1837 and 1901 is achieved, skilfully and gracefully. I cannot recommend this book enough.
This book goes from the start to the end of the day, and thoroughly investigates pretty much every aspect of daily life in all social classes.
Passages I found particularly interesting include: sport differences between different social classes, the secret signals used to indicate homosexual desires, the development of girls’ education, the role of the pub in daily life, and the descriptions of meals.
Throughout the book, Ms Goodman draws from a variety of primary sources such as diaries, adverts, and the like, as well as her own personal experience living in a Victorian lifestyle (for example, that wearing a corset does not bother her when she wears one that fits her while doing the sort of work that the back support of a corset was designed for, and likewise that she finds the supposedly bland Victorian diet to be so because it perfectly suits the needs of a body doing Victorian work). The book is expertly cited at every point and hilarious in its transferring of Victorian habits to modern day. (As an example, the same calisthenics that helped Victorian young women stretch after spending all day at a sampler is declared to also help modern young women who spend all day at a laptop!)
With this book, a really good understanding of real life between 1837 and 1901 is achieved, skilfully and gracefully. I cannot recommend this book enough.
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape and Violence
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