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24 reviews for:
Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune: How Younger Sons Made Their Way in Jane Austen's England
Rory Muir
4.05 AVERAGE
24 reviews for:
Gentlemen of Uncertain Fortune: How Younger Sons Made Their Way in Jane Austen's England
Rory Muir
4.05 AVERAGE
informative
An easy and entertaining read about the options for younger sons during the Napoleonic Wars/Regency era. It could have been less anecdotal and more rigorous, but no doubt at the cost of sheer readability, and ultimately the message is clear: be the first-born son or you’ve blown it. There’s an American saying “from shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations” which seems apropos. The statistic that says it all: in the typical gentlemen’s family of six surviving children, only three could be expected to maintain their social status.
Being a Jane Austen reader I am well acquainted with the plight of women during the early 19th century but tended to see the men as having it easy. This book thoroughly disabused me of that notion and helped me see that in some ways being a younger son might have been worse than being a daughter.
This book posits the question "What if the Bennet sisters were the Bennet brothers?" How would the four younger brothers have made their way in the world? By using primary sources and other writings on the period Rory Muir shows us not only the most likely options for young men of the time but also discusses the drawbacks and likelihood of success for each career. After an introduction, the book is divided by all the likely professions making it easy to jump around and read about the ones they are interested in/researching. It's full of good scholarship and lots of citations for those who want to dig deeper. It's also easy to read and full of stories of real men who lived these professions.
Highly recommend if you are interested in the period or doing research for a novel in it.
(Now excuse me while I go see if someone has written a genderbent Pride and Prejudice)
This book posits the question "What if the Bennet sisters were the Bennet brothers?" How would the four younger brothers have made their way in the world? By using primary sources and other writings on the period Rory Muir shows us not only the most likely options for young men of the time but also discusses the drawbacks and likelihood of success for each career. After an introduction, the book is divided by all the likely professions making it easy to jump around and read about the ones they are interested in/researching. It's full of good scholarship and lots of citations for those who want to dig deeper. It's also easy to read and full of stories of real men who lived these professions.
Highly recommend if you are interested in the period or doing research for a novel in it.
(Now excuse me while I go see if someone has written a genderbent Pride and Prejudice)
I thoroughly enjoyed it but it needed a stronger line of argument and to focus more on the experience of being a younger son. Too often the author shaped the material more in the direction of what certain careers were like.
What struck me most was how little has changed: connections still matter and anyone who wants to go into the professions or the media etc needs parents who have connections and can support them for at least five years through internships and various low paid roles until it starts paying.
What struck me most was how little has changed: connections still matter and anyone who wants to go into the professions or the media etc needs parents who have connections and can support them for at least five years through internships and various low paid roles until it starts paying.