EARNEST VICTORIANS

by Robert A. Rosenbaum ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 3, 1961

These six brief biographies of Lord Ashley, Cardinal Newman, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Charles Darwin, and Charles George Gordon (Gordon of Khartoum) really comprise a sourcebook for the general reader on the Victorian mind. They remind us once again that the touchstone of the Victorian Age was not prudery but a passionate concern for ideas. As with all sourcebooks, the selection is all-important, as the body of the text. In the writing of the subjects themselves and of their contemporaries. In this case, the selection is excellent. The choice of the people dealt with gives us the important of the age as they exemplify humanitarianism, religion, poetry, art and aesthetics, science and imperial policy. And within each life, the material has been chosen so as to focus on one important crisis. The compiler's comments are restricted to identification of the sources, or occasional brief summaries of linking events. Even readers who know nothing of the period will be captivated by the immediacy and drama of these lives, and it will be a welcome addition to supplementary reading lists in schools and colleges.

Pub Date: March 3, 1961

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Hawthorn

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1961

Categories: NONFICTION