Queen Victoria : a life of contradictions

Summary: From the critically acclaimed author of The Last Princess comes a witty and accessible account of Queen Victoria's life, exploring its irony and contradictions, as well as her lasting influence. Queen Victoria is Britain's queen of contradictions. In her combination of deep sentimentality and bombast; cultural imperialism and imperial compassion; fear of intellectualism and excitement at technology; and romanticism and prudishness, she became a spririt of the age to which she gave her name. Victoria embraced photography, railway travel, and modern art; she resisted compulsory education for the working classes, recommended for a leading women's rights campaigner "a good whipping," and detested smoking. She may or may not have been amused. Meanwhile she reinvented the monarchy and wrestled with personal reinvention. She lived in the shadow of her mother and then under the tutelage of her husband; finally, she embraced self-reliance during her long widowhood. Fresh, witty, and accessible, Queen Victoria is a compelling assessment of Victoria's mercurial character and impact, written with the irony, flourish, and insight that this queen and her rule so richly deserve. - Jacket flap.

Record details

ISBN: 9781250048899 (hardcover)
ISBN: 1250048893 (hardcover)
ISBN: 9781250072108 (paperback)
ISBN: 1250072107 (paperback)
ISBN: 9781466850019 (e-book)
ISBN: 1466850019 (e-book)
Physical Description: print
xiv, 189 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, 22 cm
Edition: First U.S. edition.
Publisher: New York : St. Martin's Press, 2014.

Content descriptions

General Note:	First published in Great Britain by William Collins, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2013.
Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 169-178)and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	"Pocket Hercules" -- "Fresh and innocent as the flowers in her own garden" -- " Constant amusements, flattery, excitements and mere politics" -- "Every quality that could be desired to render me perfectly happy" -- "The cares of royalty pressed comparatively lightly" -- "The pain of parting" -- "Unavailing regrets" -- "A highland widow" -- "Wisest counsellors" -- "Mother of many nations" -- "All that magnificence".