
The Regency Years
During Which Jane Austen Writes, Napoleon Fights, Byron Makes Love, and Britain Becomes Modern
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Narrated by:
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Chris MacDonnell
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By:
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Robert Morrison
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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Boring
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Unfortunately it was pretty unpleasant to listen to this reader. He’s not the absolute worst I’ve heard, but close. I would highly recommend reading this book rather than listening to it.
Good book, not so great reader
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The whole book from start to finish was a surprise to me.
It was well read and captivating all the way.
Surprising
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It lives up to its task
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In the epilogue, Morrison praises the regent for great changes that took place. But many of these kudos resulted as a reaction to the regent's actions, not out of agreement. And the scientific discoveries and applications merely happened in this decade, not because of the regent's policies.
So while I heard about things that I was not familiar with, and was pleased to do so, I am not prepared to give the regent near the credit that Morrison does.
interesting facts, but not a very coherent whole
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a favorite on repeat
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However the narrator seems to have mispronounced several words on purpose, including Byron's 'Don Juan' pronouncing it 'Don Jew-on'- and as it is mentioned pretty much every paragraph for at least a chapter 2, it starts to really great on the nerves…
The author also seems to take some kind of thrill in making lists, I cannot help but be reminded of a high school student trying desperately to pad out an end of term paper. Instead of just saying "the arts and sciences" he goes onto list 10 to 14 different professions, and these lists are pretty much constant depending on the topic. It gets pretty annoying to be perfectly honest…
I don't need a list of 14 to 25 different names, professions, trades, houses, roads, artists, architects, poets, writers, economic viewpoints,… Yeah it's like that except go on for at least another 10.
Ok
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What a time!
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Excellent Overview of Neglected Historical Period
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Richly detailed, unexpectedly contemporary
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