One Hot Summer Audiobook By Rosemary Ashton cover art

One Hot Summer

Dickens, Darwin, Disraeli, and the Great Stink of 1858

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One Hot Summer

By: Rosemary Ashton
Narrated by: Corrie James
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While 1858 in London may have been noteworthy for its broiling summer months and the related stench of the sewage-filled Thames River, the year is otherwise little remembered. And yet, historian Rosemary Ashton reveals in this compelling microhistory, 1858 was marked by significant, if unrecognized, turning points. For ordinary people, and also for the rich, famous, and powerful, the months from May to August turned out to be a summer of consequence.

Ashton mines Victorian letters and gossip, diaries, court records, newspapers, and other contemporary sources to uncover historically crucial moments in the lives of three protagonists - Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, and Benjamin Disraeli. She also introduces others who gained renown in the headlines of the day, among them George Eliot, Karl Marx, William Thackeray, and Edward Bulwer Lytton. Ashton reveals invisible threads of connection among Londoners at every social level in 1858, bringing the celebrated city and its citizens vibrantly to life.

©2017 Rosemary Ashton (P)2017 Tantor 19th Century Art & Literature Authors Europe Great Britain Modern Politics & Activism Presidents & Heads of State Professionals & Academics Science & Technology England United Kingdom
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Make sure you can listen in large chunks. It is easy to loose track of what is going on if you are interrupted.

A very good history.

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While the book was interesting, it tended to focus on Dickens for long periods rather than other figures or the overall history. Since his life is well known already, this seemed unnecessary.

More Dickens than history

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Some of the British history was unknown to me. Made following along a little difficult.

British

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