The Regency Years

The Regency Years: During which Jane Austen Writes, Napoleon Fights, Byron makes love, and Britain Becomes Modern- Robert Morrison
W.W. Norton & Company
Release Date: April 30, 2019

Rating:
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Synopsis: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.

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Regency England (1811-1820) is one of the time periods most favored for historical fiction and movies.  It is the time of the Duke of Wellington, Napoleon Bonaparte, Byron and Shelley, Austen and Scott.  In The Regency Years, Robert Morrison aims to give the general reader an in-depth look at  this short, but important, time span.  He argues that the Regency period plants the seeds for the modern age we think of being ushered in by the Victorians. 

Morrison does an excellent job of examining both the positive and the negative parts of Regency life. The grandeur and beauty live side by side with the excesses and squalor.  Chapters cover economics, social reforms, political strife, literature, science, colonialism and war, sex and entertainment.  While the majority of The Regency Years does not contain information that is new to Regency history devotees, Morrison presents it in a way that ties together aspects of Regency life in new and interesting ways.  Quotes from letters, diaries, and references to popular literature create a well-rounded and well-researched history.

Fast-paced and written in a lively and engaging style, The Regency Years is an excellent history for readers beginning to study the time period, and a detailed, delightful read for those looking to round out their knowledge of this fascinating time period. 

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review