Georgian delights

In this pictorial account of life in Georgian England, Professor Plumb captures all the charm and humanity that characterised the age. It was a time of expansion, discovery and the dedicated pursuit of happiness, in which new interests -- intellectual, artistic and sporting -- were taken up with delighted enthusiasm. Many traditional British pleasures -- concerts, race meetings and seaside holidays among them -- have their origins in the eighteenth century, as do the Royal Academy, the London Zoo and Kew Gardens. Great talents emerged, men such as Handel, Gainsborough, Chippendale, Johnson and Capability Brown, producing work of unparalleled genius and diversity. A spirit of inquiry and adventure caused more people to read and to travel than ever before, and the enjoyment derived from their new-found knowledge changed the quality of life for millions of Georgian men and women. It brought them a more stimulating, more satisfying existence, and a happiness which had previously been the sole right of a narrow and aristocratic elite. The enormous range of illustrations in this book reflects the variety and vitality of this exceptionally fruitful period in England's social history.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.