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Not So Virtuous Victorians (Paperback)

P&S History > British History > Victorian History P&S History > By Century > 19th Century P&S History > Social History World History > Europe World History > UK & Ireland

By Michelle Rosenberg
Imprint: Pen & Sword History
Pages: 112
Illustrations: 50 black and white illustrations
ISBN: 9781526700919
Published: 2nd February 2022

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What springs to mind when you think of British Victorian men and women? – manners, manners and more manners. Behaviour that was as rigid and constricted as the corsets women wore. From iron-knicker sexual prudery to men so uptight they furtively released their pent up emotions in opium dens and prostitute hot spots. All, of course, exaggerated clichés worthy of a Victorian melodrama.

Each generation loves to think it is better than the last and loves to look aghast at the horrifying trends of their ancestors. But are we really any different? This glimpse at life for Victorian men and women might make millennials think again.

Men and women were expected to live very differently from one another with clearly defined roles regardless of class. However, lift the skirts a little and not only will you see that they didn’t wear knickers but they were far less repressed than the persistent stereotypes would have us believe. The Victorians were as weird and wonderful as we are today.

From fatal beauty tips to truly hysterical cures for hysteria to grave robbers playing skittles with human bones, we have cherry picked some of the more entertaining glimpses into the lives led by our Victorian brothers and sisters.

Highly recommended!

Read the Full Review Here

Donna's Book Blog

"...suitable for the general reader who wants a quick and easy
window into some of the less savoury aspects of Victorian life, and is well-illustrated. For the more serious researcher,
although the content itself is brief, the text is well-referenced, and together with a useful bibliography gives a very good
starting point for anyone wishing to look more deeply into the subjects and people that are covered."

Family & Community Historical Research Society Newsletter, June 2022

As featured in

Hertfordshire Life

This is a small book that looks at alternative little bits of life in Victorian Britain, looking at Child Labour, Sex & Perversion, Hidden Sexualities and Fashion Victims. The chapters are small but the book entertaining, good and quite humorous in places. Maybe a book for people wanting to start getting into learning about the Victorian era.

Read the full review here

The History Fella

As featured in

Yorkshire Reporter

It would be suitable for the general reader who wants a quick and easy window into some of the less savoury aspects of Victorian life, and is well-illustrated. The text is well-referenced, and together with a useful bibliography gives a very good starting point for anyone wishing to look more deeply into the subjects and people that are covered.

Family and Community Historical Research Society

I enjoyed this so much that I read it in one sitting!

A fascinating but also frustrating read.

‘Story books, romances, love tales, and religious novels constitute the chief part of the reading matter which American young ladies greedily devour. We have known young ladies still in their teens who had read while libraries of the most exciting novels. The taste for novel-reading is like that for liquor or opium.’

The way women were treated during the Victorian era is just completely wrong and it is difficult to not get angry.

I liked the illustrations featured in the book.

After reading this, I defiantly want to read up more on Effie Gray, Anne Lister and Princess Louise.

A word of caution, that this book does contain some images that people might find disturbing (Jack The Ripper’s victims mortuary photos)

‘Let men be compelled to wear our dress for a while and we should soon hear them advocating a change.’ Amelia Bloomer.

The perfect read for non-fiction and historical readers.

Georgi Lvs Books !!

About Michelle Rosenberg

Michelle Rosenberg is a writer and passionate women’s historian with a great fondness for her two daughters, bawdy humour and inappropriate language (in that order). She lives in Hertfordshire with her family, two overweight Spaniels and ever-growing book collection.

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