This book is a delight, stuffed with good things...A fascinating...richly informative book.-Andrew Taylor,
The Times 'Book of the Week'
Corfield's book is full of such intriguing little nuggets...One of the strengths of Corfield's survey of the Georgians is that she finds lots of room for eccentric and contradictory voices.-Dominic Sandbrook,
The Sunday TimesThe novelist Brigid Brophy wrote that the two most fascinating subjects in the universe are sex and the eighteenth century. Corfield's comprehensive survey of the Georgians assembles evidence for this claim: their deeds and misdeeds, their contributions to cultural and scientific progress and their pursuit of empire and enslavement are a hotly disputed legacy.-Ruth Scurr, Financial Times
A vivid compendium of Georgian life, from the stateliness of its architecture and the creakiness of its constituion to its celebrity culture and sexual mores.-Michael Prodger,
New Statesman A fascinating book...Corfield's grasp and authority are evident throughout. Despite making occasional reference to modern intellectual heavyweights such as Gramsci or Habermas, she maintains a lightness of phrase that makes her book never less than enthralling.-Wynn Wheldon,
Spectator In this beautifully written, in-depth account, foremost expert on the period Penelope J. Corfield considers how people at the time responded to these seismic changes and how their viewpoints compare with people's attitudes today as we continue to live with the legacies.-This England
Wide-ranging data and material-from the average Briton's height, population and immigration statistics to cultural and sexual activity-is expertly corralled using a clear writing style, which will certainly appeal to the general reader, as well as the scholar.-Jacqueline Riding, Country Life
Offers a clear, comprehensive and enthusiastic survey of public and private customs and practices...
The Georgians is manifestly the work of someone who has thought and written about this period for decades. -Freya Johnston,
Literary Review A magisterial recreation and analysis of the long eighteenth century in Britain from one of the key architects of this vibrant field; commanding in range, pellucid in prose, brilliant in argument and salted by a sly, dry wit throughout. Decades of learning are worn so lightly, but don't be deceived by the seductively readable style, you are in the hands of the complete mistress of the subject.-Amanda Vickery, author of
Behind Closed Doors A magnificent book of astonishing depth and range that addresses the complexity of the Georgians and their many legacies with Corfield's formidable insight, expertise and clarity. The book puts the Georgians in conversation with our own time. Without doubt, this is an account of the Georgians of and for the 21st-century.-Karen Harvey, author of
TheImposteress Rabbit Breeder: Mary Toft and Eighteenth-Century England The Georgians are given to us as an argumentative, opinionated and very lively lot. A major work based on a lifetime of research, this wonderful survey helps us to understand an amazing society which was, perhaps, more than the sum of its parts-Frank O'Gorman, author of The Long Eighteenth Century
The Georgians come alive in Penelope Corfield's elegantly written account. The experiences of individuals from all levels of society provide a compelling and accessible understanding of major themes in a crucial period of British history.-Martin Daunton, author of Wealth and Welfare