Victorian Britain

By: Patrick N. Allitt, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Patrick N. Allitt

Length: 18 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

This series of 36 fascinating lectures is a chronological journey into the story of Victorian Britain, from the unexpected ascension to the throne of teenaged Princess Victoria in 1837 to her death in 1901 as the Boer War neared its end.

Presented with all of Victoria's strengths and foibles left intact by an award-winning teacher and author, the lectures invite you to reflect on both the positive and negative aspects of her reign. You'll discover the lives of Victorian women; the situation facing working people and the rise of trade unionism; Victorian achievements in art, literature, architecture, and music; and what Leonard Woolf called "the seriousness of games," and of leisure-time activities as windows on Victorian life.

You'll discuss the important role played by Christianity as a force for both principled adherence to tradition and principled pursuit of change; and the influence of science and the debates over its impact that animated the Victorians.

And you'll learn what the Victorians believed about education; the questions raised by Britain's rule over its empire, the problems of poverty and crime; the discoveries of Victorian explorers in Africa; and much more in this remarkable rendering of a remarkable age.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2002 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2002 The Great Courses

intresting and informative

This was a great lecture and entertaining as well as informative. If I had one complaint it would be how sometimes things have to jump around instead of being chronological but it really cant be chronological in its format. if you want to know in depth of the Victorian age this is the lecture for you.

Loved this!

This is one of my favorite teachers of the Great Courses and I loved this set of lectures.

Professor Allitt is sublime and superlative.

I favour this course over all others owing to content and the superlative Professor Allitt.

Objective, Dispassionate, Thorough

Organized in logical, chronological manner, with focus on different topics as needed. Altogether, it gives a really comprehensive overview of a very important but often overlooked era. Also a very enjoyable narrator -- no-nonsense lecturer, but his occasional chuckles are so much fun! And it's WONDERFUL to have the accompanying text!!! Wish more Great Courses on Audible came with the accompanying text for future reference!!!

A gem

Quite a complete description and analysis of Victorian Britain: politics, society, culture, with each lecture focusing on a specific matter. I really enjoyed the lectures and hope to see more audiobooks produced by P. N. Allitt.

Informative and entertaining overview of a significant period in human history

Very detailed and expansive view of Victorian Britain presented in an entertaining and balanced way. The presenter’s voice reminded me a little of Eric Idle (from Monty Python) but he came across as an informative academic historian at the same time. I learned so much more even than I expected. Would highly recommend

Don’t Miss Out

Seriously the best lecture series I’ve ever heard on audible. The lecturer was entertaining and did a fantastic job of balancing depth and width of the Victorian period.

I could go on and on, but seriously if you’re looking for content that helps provide both perspective on the past, and how we can use that to illuminate our lives in the present, don’t waste your time with other series. This one takes the cake. Great work Dr. Allit

36 fascinating lectures - it's true!

Just a brilliant and informative set of lectures.
I've listened to it twice, just because it was so interesting.
Covers a lot of different things in Victorian society, each having a lecture of it's own.
I'd love to have a sequel covering Britain until today by the same lecturer.

Excellently narrated; fascinating topic

Must buy for history enthusiast of the Victoria period. The topic is made interesting through storytelling and copious number of external references.

So fascinating, I finished it in record time.

Any additional comments?

This 36 lecture course was so fascinating, I couldn't stop listening to it. I finished it in record time.

Professor Allitt is quite knowledgeable. There was no "I guess" or "I suppose" in this series, as I have heard from other historians. He is extremely well educated on his subject matter and it shows in his presentation, which is presented with confidence and authority.

Allitt is also quite fair in that he presents both positive and negative sides of Victorian Britain. And there were many, many negative sides, and he never flinched from presenting the unpleasant.

The really good: Any course which teaches me something that I didn't know before is excellent. As an American, I confess to having a lot of preconceived notions of life in Victorian Britain based on movies, British literature, and so forth. Those notions were quickly corrected by this course. And I love it. No one should live in ignorance when such excellent courses are available.