What do you think?
Rate this book
The Victorians: Twelve Titans who Forged Britain
They made Britain Great. Now it's our turn.
Many associate the Victorian era with austere social attitudes and filthy factories. But in this bold and provocative book, Jacob Rees-Mogg -- leading Tory MP and prominent Brexiteer -- takes up the story of twelve key figures to paint a very different picture of the age, one of bright ambition, bold self-belief and determined industriousness. Whether through Peel's commitment to building free trade, Palmerston's deft diplomacy in international affairs, or Brunel's incredible engineering feats, the Victorians transformed the nation and established Britain as a preeminent global force. As we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Queen Victoria's birth, and as Britain prepares to liberate herself from the European Union, it is essential that we remember the spirit, drive and values of the Victorians who forged modern Britain, as we consider our future as a nation.
Many associate the Victorian era with austere social attitudes and filthy factories. But in this bold and provocative book, Jacob Rees-Mogg -- leading Tory MP and prominent Brexiteer -- takes up the story of twelve key figures to paint a very different picture of the age, one of bright ambition, bold self-belief and determined industriousness. Whether through Peel's commitment to building free trade, Palmerston's deft diplomacy in international affairs, or Brunel's incredible engineering feats, the Victorians transformed the nation and established Britain as a preeminent global force. As we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Queen Victoria's birth, and as Britain prepares to liberate herself from the European Union, it is essential that we remember the spirit, drive and values of the Victorians who forged modern Britain, as we consider our future as a nation.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published May 23, 2019
14 people are currently reading
170 people want to read
About the author
Jacob Rees-Mogg
4 books12 followersJacob Rees-Mogg is a British Conservative politician and hedge fund manager, noted for his support of Brexit, his Roman Catholicism and his traditional upper-class manner. He is the son of William Rees-Mogg.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
September 29, 2022
Here's a fun fact: in mythology, six of the twelve titans were female. Not here, of course. No, no. The only female who appears in this book is Queen Victoria herself who, Rees-Mogg assures us, ‘became no less of a woman when she learned to rely upon Albert as a partner and to trust him’.
Twat.
Twat.
will-not-read
July 16, 2024Note: I’ve shelved this as Probably Will Not Read, hence no rating. My comments are based on reading a lot of excerpts, plus numerous newspaper reviews and commentary on the book and the author, when it was published.
Who Were the most Significant Victorians?
Lists can be fun - and frustrating: favourite novels, top ten bands, most loved holiday destination, first-choice food...
My own opinions change with time and context, quite apart from how my choices differ from those of family, friends - and nemeses! So choosing a dozen Victorians who forged Britain was always going to generate debate. Were I compiling a list, I’d have two main criteria:
• Influencers from a variety of fields, such as: science, medicine, engineering, the arts, politics, exploration, business, and philanthropy.
• Lasting influence, rather than who was famous at the time. That would probably increase the number of women selected.
Rees-Mogg evidently had very different criteria:
• 11 of the 12 “titans” he profiles are men.
• The only woman is Queen Victoria. Her husband (one of the 11 men) gets all the credit for reinventing the monarchy, and Rees-Mogg says she “became no less of a woman when she learned to rely upon Albert as a partner and to trust him”. Ugh!
• 4 of the 12 were Prime Ministers. That’s 40% of all the Victorian PMs and 33% of people in the book!
• The only person not connected with government is cricketer, WG Grace. That’s because “cricket at its best captures the soul of the nation. Fair play, etiquette and gentlemanly behaviour”.
OK, he wanted just political titans. That wouldn’t be my choice, but fair enough; he’s a politician, and it’s his book. Nevertheless, how could he not include any early campaigners for women’s suffrage or other social reforms?!
Image: Mrs Fry reading to the prisoners in Newgate Prison. Source: Wikipedia.
Sticking to the political sphere, so not considering Mary Seacole, Florence Nightingale, Ada Lovelace, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the Bronte sisters, Mary Anning, Christina Rossetti, Marie Stopes, Virginia Woolf, Mary Shelley, and many others, I suggest half a dozen women for consideration (and unlike Rees-Mogg, history wasn’t what I studied at university):
• Elizabeth Fry, a Quaker prison reformer.
• Millicent Garrett Fawcett and Emmeline Pankhurst, early pioneers of women’s suffrage.
• Angela Burdett-Coutts, an heiress who used her wealth to help the poor and was the first woman to be awarded a peerage in her own right.
• Josephine Butler, who campaigned against child prostitution and human trafficking.
• Annie Besant, human rights campaigner, especially (but not exclusively) women’s rights.
Image: Statue of Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square, taken at the Stop Trump protests, 13 July 2018.
Who is Jacob Rees-Mogg?
Heis was a member of Parliament, who went the traditional Conservative route: Eton, Oxford, hedge fund, Parliament. I think he may be projecting with his description of Sir Robert Peel as a “self-made man”, a few paragraphs before adding that he was “born into a world of considerable wealth”.
Rees-Mogg admires the “moral certainty, of success” of the Victorian age, compared with “society these days… has so little faith in anything”, an age of “cynicism and decline” and “moral relativism”, where “all we can do is manage decline”. Hence his passion for a hard Brexit.
He revels in an antiquated persona, lifestyle, philosophy, and accent that are encapsulated by his nickname, the (Dis)Honourable Member for the 18th or 19th century. He’s well to the right of Boris, but both wear the guise of an amusing but pompous eccentric, which conveniently distracts from their actual policies and is used to excuse controversial behaviour and statements. Rees-Mogg is a wolf in Victorian aristocrat’s clothing, and Boris a wolf in a clown costume. Both are serious contenders to be Prime Minister. Such is the state of Brexit-era politics in the UK.
Image: Cover of Private Eye magazine, 9 February 2018, showing Rees-Mogg in topper and tails, saying, "We must throw off the shackles of the EU and trade freely again with Persia, Mesopotamia and Cathay". (Source.)
Suzanne Moore, in a 2017 Guardian article, compared Rees-Mogg to Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage, and Donald Trump, suggesting that like them "he embodies the three things that many people require of modern politicians: a veneer of authenticity; an ability to cut through perceived liberal wisdom; and enormous privilege that is flaunted, rather than hidden." She also thinks he uses his Roman Catholicism to "excuse his appalling bigotry": he is strongly against marriage equality, and would like to deny abortion, even after rape (though to his credit, he’s consistent enough to be against reinstating the death penalty).
He has six young children, but thinks it charming to be proud of never having changed a nappy, in part because nanny wouldn’t trust him to get it right: the same nanny who raised him, now raises his own brood. Similarly, in interviews, he boasts of not being able to cook anything at all, and never having washed or ironed his own clothes. But he does sometimes drive his children when they need to go places. So there's that!
Empathy’s Shadow
Schadenfreude is a deliciously nasty word. But where Rees-Mogg's sales figures are concerned, it’s merely delicious, and arguably closer to karma.
In the week this was published, only only 734 copies were sold, whereas Ron Geesin’s four-year old, very niche book, Adjustable Spanners: History, Uses and Developments since 1970 , apparently outsold it. Given the amusingly execrable reviews for Rees-Mogg in the broadsheet press, that’s probably fair.
The publisher, WH Allen (an imprint of Penguin), and Waterstones (a chain of booksellers), were reduced to quotes about the man, rather than his book, including:
• “One of the most important politicians in the country.” - The Economist. (True, unfortunately.)
• “The best dressed man in the House of Commons.” - The Spectator.
• “The bookie's favourite to replace the PM.” - The Sun.
Professional reviewers have been less kind, and more amusing:
• “Consists of a dozen clumsily written pompous schoolboy compositions … What a staggeringly silly book this is!” AN Wilson.
• “A sentimental vision of the past as the author wishes it had been… half-remembered anecdotes from a Boy’s Own story, or perhaps tales told by his nanny.” Kim Wagner, senior lecturer at Queen Mary University.
• “Nothing can really prepare you for the sheer ignorance and analytical incompetence on display here. Parts of it read as a sort of self-help book on ‘how to be a good Victorian’, which is to say essentially white and male.” Kim Wagner, again.
• “Plodding, laborious, humourless and barely readable.” Richard J Evans in The New Statesman.
• “So bad, so boring, so mind-bogglingly banal that if it had been written by anybody else it would never have been published.” Dominic Sandbrook in The Sunday Times.
• “Before I started, the prospect of Rees-Mogg in Downing Street struck me as a ridiculous idea. But if this is what it takes to stop him writing another book, then I think we should seriously consider paying that price.” Dominic Sandbrook, again.
GR Ratings, two weeks after publication are interesting, though not surprising: not a single 3* rating, but lots of 1* and 5* (from an admittedly small number of reviews). Politics is tribal, and that's part of the reason our nation is so divided.
Who Were the most Significant Victorians?
Lists can be fun - and frustrating: favourite novels, top ten bands, most loved holiday destination, first-choice food...
My own opinions change with time and context, quite apart from how my choices differ from those of family, friends - and nemeses! So choosing a dozen Victorians who forged Britain was always going to generate debate. Were I compiling a list, I’d have two main criteria:
• Influencers from a variety of fields, such as: science, medicine, engineering, the arts, politics, exploration, business, and philanthropy.
• Lasting influence, rather than who was famous at the time. That would probably increase the number of women selected.
Rees-Mogg evidently had very different criteria:
• 11 of the 12 “titans” he profiles are men.
• The only woman is Queen Victoria. Her husband (one of the 11 men) gets all the credit for reinventing the monarchy, and Rees-Mogg says she “became no less of a woman when she learned to rely upon Albert as a partner and to trust him”. Ugh!
• 4 of the 12 were Prime Ministers. That’s 40% of all the Victorian PMs and 33% of people in the book!
• The only person not connected with government is cricketer, WG Grace. That’s because “cricket at its best captures the soul of the nation. Fair play, etiquette and gentlemanly behaviour”.
OK, he wanted just political titans. That wouldn’t be my choice, but fair enough; he’s a politician, and it’s his book. Nevertheless, how could he not include any early campaigners for women’s suffrage or other social reforms?!
Image: Mrs Fry reading to the prisoners in Newgate Prison. Source: Wikipedia.
Sticking to the political sphere, so not considering Mary Seacole, Florence Nightingale, Ada Lovelace, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the Bronte sisters, Mary Anning, Christina Rossetti, Marie Stopes, Virginia Woolf, Mary Shelley, and many others, I suggest half a dozen women for consideration (and unlike Rees-Mogg, history wasn’t what I studied at university):
• Elizabeth Fry, a Quaker prison reformer.
• Millicent Garrett Fawcett and Emmeline Pankhurst, early pioneers of women’s suffrage.
• Angela Burdett-Coutts, an heiress who used her wealth to help the poor and was the first woman to be awarded a peerage in her own right.
• Josephine Butler, who campaigned against child prostitution and human trafficking.
• Annie Besant, human rights campaigner, especially (but not exclusively) women’s rights.
Image: Statue of Millicent Fawcett in Parliament Square, taken at the Stop Trump protests, 13 July 2018.
Who is Jacob Rees-Mogg?
He
Rees-Mogg admires the “moral certainty, of success” of the Victorian age, compared with “society these days… has so little faith in anything”, an age of “cynicism and decline” and “moral relativism”, where “all we can do is manage decline”. Hence his passion for a hard Brexit.
He revels in an antiquated persona, lifestyle, philosophy, and accent that are encapsulated by his nickname, the (Dis)Honourable Member for the 18th or 19th century. He’s well to the right of Boris, but both wear the guise of an amusing but pompous eccentric, which conveniently distracts from their actual policies and is used to excuse controversial behaviour and statements. Rees-Mogg is a wolf in Victorian aristocrat’s clothing, and Boris a wolf in a clown costume. Both are serious contenders to be Prime Minister. Such is the state of Brexit-era politics in the UK.
Image: Cover of Private Eye magazine, 9 February 2018, showing Rees-Mogg in topper and tails, saying, "We must throw off the shackles of the EU and trade freely again with Persia, Mesopotamia and Cathay". (Source.)
Suzanne Moore, in a 2017 Guardian article, compared Rees-Mogg to Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage, and Donald Trump, suggesting that like them "he embodies the three things that many people require of modern politicians: a veneer of authenticity; an ability to cut through perceived liberal wisdom; and enormous privilege that is flaunted, rather than hidden." She also thinks he uses his Roman Catholicism to "excuse his appalling bigotry": he is strongly against marriage equality, and would like to deny abortion, even after rape (though to his credit, he’s consistent enough to be against reinstating the death penalty).
He has six young children, but thinks it charming to be proud of never having changed a nappy, in part because nanny wouldn’t trust him to get it right: the same nanny who raised him, now raises his own brood. Similarly, in interviews, he boasts of not being able to cook anything at all, and never having washed or ironed his own clothes. But he does sometimes drive his children when they need to go places. So there's that!
Empathy’s Shadow
Schadenfreude is a deliciously nasty word. But where Rees-Mogg's sales figures are concerned, it’s merely delicious, and arguably closer to karma.
In the week this was published, only only 734 copies were sold, whereas Ron Geesin’s four-year old, very niche book, Adjustable Spanners: History, Uses and Developments since 1970 , apparently outsold it. Given the amusingly execrable reviews for Rees-Mogg in the broadsheet press, that’s probably fair.
The publisher, WH Allen (an imprint of Penguin), and Waterstones (a chain of booksellers), were reduced to quotes about the man, rather than his book, including:
• “One of the most important politicians in the country.” - The Economist. (True, unfortunately.)
• “The best dressed man in the House of Commons.” - The Spectator.
• “The bookie's favourite to replace the PM.” - The Sun.
Professional reviewers have been less kind, and more amusing:
• “Consists of a dozen clumsily written pompous schoolboy compositions … What a staggeringly silly book this is!” AN Wilson.
• “A sentimental vision of the past as the author wishes it had been… half-remembered anecdotes from a Boy’s Own story, or perhaps tales told by his nanny.” Kim Wagner, senior lecturer at Queen Mary University.
• “Nothing can really prepare you for the sheer ignorance and analytical incompetence on display here. Parts of it read as a sort of self-help book on ‘how to be a good Victorian’, which is to say essentially white and male.” Kim Wagner, again.
• “Plodding, laborious, humourless and barely readable.” Richard J Evans in The New Statesman.
• “So bad, so boring, so mind-bogglingly banal that if it had been written by anybody else it would never have been published.” Dominic Sandbrook in The Sunday Times.
• “Before I started, the prospect of Rees-Mogg in Downing Street struck me as a ridiculous idea. But if this is what it takes to stop him writing another book, then I think we should seriously consider paying that price.” Dominic Sandbrook, again.
GR Ratings, two weeks after publication are interesting, though not surprising: not a single 3* rating, but lots of 1* and 5* (from an admittedly small number of reviews). Politics is tribal, and that's part of the reason our nation is so divided.
June 4, 2019
This is an excellent book, albeit the evidently agenda-driven reviews published in The Guardian and so forth. There is great flair and eloquence to this book, and one need not question its historical integrity as, despite the falsehood-laden reviews published in order to deter prospective buyers, the analysis of these 'Twelve Titans' is substantiated with evidence. I do have confidence that those in this thread whom have 'rated' this book with lower than 3 stars have not even read a single page of it, but are instead making a political statement by besmirching the reputation of Mr Rees-Mogg. I'm a 17 year old student and I can see through this blatant anti-Conservative tint of the media, you certainly can and hence should too.
June 6, 2019
At last, I have found a book worth one star!
I have to say it is an easy read: so easy I read it in a bookshop at one brief sitting. And that is its only virtue. I could do a negative review, but the press has done that, and there are some killer negative reviews on Goodreads already.
The chapter on Gordon of Khartoum has to be the most sanctimonious and unctuous piece of historical writing I have ever read. Only Rees-Mogg could look down from his condescending glasses and tick of Strachey, as he peers up from his Bloomsbury deckchair, with such consummate arrogance.
The best critical approach to this book on twelve Titans is to to get out a thesaurus, select a word of opprobrium and copy down the first twelve words.
So-- bad, arrant, vile, base, gross, poor, bad of its kind, inferior, shoddy, tacky, faulty, execrable. Nailed it!
I have to say it is an easy read: so easy I read it in a bookshop at one brief sitting. And that is its only virtue. I could do a negative review, but the press has done that, and there are some killer negative reviews on Goodreads already.
The chapter on Gordon of Khartoum has to be the most sanctimonious and unctuous piece of historical writing I have ever read. Only Rees-Mogg could look down from his condescending glasses and tick of Strachey, as he peers up from his Bloomsbury deckchair, with such consummate arrogance.
The best critical approach to this book on twelve Titans is to to get out a thesaurus, select a word of opprobrium and copy down the first twelve words.
So-- bad, arrant, vile, base, gross, poor, bad of its kind, inferior, shoddy, tacky, faulty, execrable. Nailed it!
May 25, 2019
Perfect toilet read, especially if you’re out of paper.
February 10, 2022
It seems disgraceful that any old slightly brain-damaged baboon can get published if they have enough money. This book is what a dim-witted teenager might think of the Victorian age if they enjoy slightly erotic fantasies about Prince Albert and Disraeli. It is drivel and the worst kind of the "Great Men" school of history. Spoiler alert: rees-mogg is not great (at anything) - do not waste your money on this unreadable nonsense.
November 22, 2020
Jacob Rees-Mogg is a Member of Parliament for North East Somerset whose witty comebacks first drew my attention to him. This book has a somewhat nostalgic and elegiac tone as mr. Rees-Mogg paints a vivid pictures of 12 famous Victorians (among these are Palmerston, Queen Victoria, Gladstone, Disraeli and sir Robert Peel).
The book is obviously meant for a more general reader and therefore often describes the individuals accomplishments in broad strokes. His intention is to write a plaidoyer so that our picture of this period stops stemming from Lytton Stratcheys 1918 book "Eminent Victorians" (which paints a largely negative portrait of the period). What I found to be most interesting was how British society handled the coming of modernity. How do you ensure stability given the implications of the industrial and the french revolution? You do it by gradually implementing political change and therefore giving society a chance to adapt slowly.
Mr. Rees-Mogg also presents the reader with a few not quite as remembered Victorians such as W. G. Grace, William Sleeman, Albert Dicey, and Augustus Pugin. I found the biograpy of Pugin interesting as it shed some light on how Victorians attempted to retain their religiosity and sense of meaning in the wake of the scientific revolution. Pugin was an architet who redesigned the interior of the palace in Westminister after it burnt down. His work was an attempt to articulate and show the power of God through Gothic architecture. He was a Catholic who seemed to have a deep longing for a simpler time and his churches were his attempt at imbibing his contemporaries with this same longing.
One gets a sense when reading this book of the Victorian values, that is mainly duty, as well as the sense of progress which seemed imbued in these individuals from an early age. There is no problem which cannot be fixed (which the author shows through the story of an bureaucrat (William Sleeman) who brought a gang of vicious criminals (Thugee) working all over India to justice). But duty is in here very closely aligned to personal responsibility and that one should deliver on what one promises.
I would recommend it to anyone interested in knowing more about the period provided one is aware of the downsides of the work - that is to say his generalizations and the panegyric quality of the writing. Other than that I would agree with the historian Andrew Roberts that the book is a "a full-throated, clear-sighted, well-researched and extremely well-written exposition of the Victorians and their values".[7] Well... except for the "extremely well-written" part.
The book is obviously meant for a more general reader and therefore often describes the individuals accomplishments in broad strokes. His intention is to write a plaidoyer so that our picture of this period stops stemming from Lytton Stratcheys 1918 book "Eminent Victorians" (which paints a largely negative portrait of the period). What I found to be most interesting was how British society handled the coming of modernity. How do you ensure stability given the implications of the industrial and the french revolution? You do it by gradually implementing political change and therefore giving society a chance to adapt slowly.
Mr. Rees-Mogg also presents the reader with a few not quite as remembered Victorians such as W. G. Grace, William Sleeman, Albert Dicey, and Augustus Pugin. I found the biograpy of Pugin interesting as it shed some light on how Victorians attempted to retain their religiosity and sense of meaning in the wake of the scientific revolution. Pugin was an architet who redesigned the interior of the palace in Westminister after it burnt down. His work was an attempt to articulate and show the power of God through Gothic architecture. He was a Catholic who seemed to have a deep longing for a simpler time and his churches were his attempt at imbibing his contemporaries with this same longing.
One gets a sense when reading this book of the Victorian values, that is mainly duty, as well as the sense of progress which seemed imbued in these individuals from an early age. There is no problem which cannot be fixed (which the author shows through the story of an bureaucrat (William Sleeman) who brought a gang of vicious criminals (Thugee) working all over India to justice). But duty is in here very closely aligned to personal responsibility and that one should deliver on what one promises.
I would recommend it to anyone interested in knowing more about the period provided one is aware of the downsides of the work - that is to say his generalizations and the panegyric quality of the writing. Other than that I would agree with the historian Andrew Roberts that the book is a "a full-throated, clear-sighted, well-researched and extremely well-written exposition of the Victorians and their values".[7] Well... except for the "extremely well-written" part.
May 21, 2019
Thay may have made Britain great but a private education didn’t do the same for Jacob unfortunately - outdated and offering nothing new!
August 5, 2019
A delicious read. Rees-Mogg writes with conviction and judgement. He celebrates that moral purpose and self belief the Victorians possessed that is so rare in today's confused postmodern world.
Most of the negative reviews of this book are by people who have not taken the time to read it, simply because they dislike the author's politics. Disregard them.
Most of the negative reviews of this book are by people who have not taken the time to read it, simply because they dislike the author's politics. Disregard them.
June 4, 2019
Read this expecting it to be quite terrible.
I will admit I assumed it would be an excruciatingly boring read however I was pleasantly surprised...
this book has turned an incredibly boring subject into something I was able to read for several hours straight at a time. Definitely better than expectations
I will admit I assumed it would be an excruciatingly boring read however I was pleasantly surprised...
this book has turned an incredibly boring subject into something I was able to read for several hours straight at a time. Definitely better than expectations
May 21, 2019
A fascinating read into a generation of heroic individuals, people that strove to achieve the impossible and often failed in the attempt. Worth reading for anybody with an interested in a colourful period of British and world history.
June 9, 2019
I found this book extremely disappointing. The idea of aping the Lytton Strachey model of picking several prominent people from the Victorian period and arguing for their value and relevance is good, although it has been done before (e.g. by A. N. Wilson). What lets this book down is (a) the narrow range of source material used to inform the book; (b) the limited and unimaginative choice of subjects; (c) the awkward prose style; and (d) the lack of depth of analysis.
The chapters on such well-known and obvious subjects such as Peel, Palmerston, Disraeli and Gladstone are little more than indifferent student essays. It does not get much better when the author considers Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. There is some repetition and awkward cross-referencing in many of the chapters which again read like the sort of thing an A Level student would write. The essay on W. G. Grace was very convoluted in terms of constructing a narrative from the statistical career.
In terms of subjects, although I found the essays on Sleeman and Dicey informative, I found myself asking whether they were really worthy to be placed in the same category as, say, Gladstone or even General Gordon.
I have a big problem with the fact that there are no women in Mr Rees-Mogg's list, other than the Queen herself. There are several really prominent figures who surely deserve a place instead of someone like Napier. For example, what about either or both of the two Marys? Mary Seacole and Mary Kingsley? They brought a fresh and important perspective to the Victorian world-view with their involvement in the care of those involved in the imperial wars and the way that they challenged assumptions about race and gender.
This is miles from being an academic book. If it were to work as what has been called "entry-level- history", then the reader needs to be properly directed to authoritative and up-to-date sources that enable further study. This is not the case here. The bibliography is very limited and does not even include the Lytton Strachey works that Mr Rees-Mogg is at pains to criticise.
There are, sadly, a number of factual errors. For example, Gladstone is supposed to have "fought and defeated the Boers in South Africa" (p.283). He did not. The Boers of the Transvaal defeated a British force at Majuba Hill and therefore won what is called the First Boer War in 1881.
Four pages later, General Gordon is given a knighthood (wrong) and in the essay on Gordon itself, he is described as the leader of "a small British force fighting against all the odds in the Sudan". Wrong again. Gordon was besieged in Khartoum with a garrison of Egyptian and Sudanese troops.
I regret being critical because I quite admire the author for his courteous and considered demeanour but this is not a good book and the cynic in me feels that if it had been written by someone who is not a public figure, it would never have been published.
Sad.
The chapters on such well-known and obvious subjects such as Peel, Palmerston, Disraeli and Gladstone are little more than indifferent student essays. It does not get much better when the author considers Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. There is some repetition and awkward cross-referencing in many of the chapters which again read like the sort of thing an A Level student would write. The essay on W. G. Grace was very convoluted in terms of constructing a narrative from the statistical career.
In terms of subjects, although I found the essays on Sleeman and Dicey informative, I found myself asking whether they were really worthy to be placed in the same category as, say, Gladstone or even General Gordon.
I have a big problem with the fact that there are no women in Mr Rees-Mogg's list, other than the Queen herself. There are several really prominent figures who surely deserve a place instead of someone like Napier. For example, what about either or both of the two Marys? Mary Seacole and Mary Kingsley? They brought a fresh and important perspective to the Victorian world-view with their involvement in the care of those involved in the imperial wars and the way that they challenged assumptions about race and gender.
This is miles from being an academic book. If it were to work as what has been called "entry-level- history", then the reader needs to be properly directed to authoritative and up-to-date sources that enable further study. This is not the case here. The bibliography is very limited and does not even include the Lytton Strachey works that Mr Rees-Mogg is at pains to criticise.
There are, sadly, a number of factual errors. For example, Gladstone is supposed to have "fought and defeated the Boers in South Africa" (p.283). He did not. The Boers of the Transvaal defeated a British force at Majuba Hill and therefore won what is called the First Boer War in 1881.
Four pages later, General Gordon is given a knighthood (wrong) and in the essay on Gordon itself, he is described as the leader of "a small British force fighting against all the odds in the Sudan". Wrong again. Gordon was besieged in Khartoum with a garrison of Egyptian and Sudanese troops.
I regret being critical because I quite admire the author for his courteous and considered demeanour but this is not a good book and the cynic in me feels that if it had been written by someone who is not a public figure, it would never have been published.
Sad.
September 14, 2021
I should note before I start that I have no prior affliations before reading a book: I'll read stuff by and about Tories, Labour, Liberals, Democrats, Republicans, you name it. My interest is in the book itself as a text and how it hangs together. Sadly, THE VICTORIANS is one I just couldn't get into at all, despite an interest in the 19th century, and the criticisms I'd read of it all seemed to be true. This is a personal selection and championing of figures from the Victorian era that the author personally loves. All are famous and most have been written about endlessly, so the biographical details feel by rote. The accompanying political analysis feels very dry and, quite frankly, boring. It's written well enough in an academic style for sure, but it doesn't make for enjoyable reading; the only sections I thought that came to life were those on General Gordon and those on India's Thuggee cult. The rest? I had to skim, I'm afraid.
June 5, 2019
Bland and lacking originality.
I remember my A-level history teacher telling me never to right a commentary on political events because that’s not what a true historian does. It is however, what Rees-Mogg does.
I have no doubt of his academic abilities and his intellect. But, it would be more popular amongst the critics to have written a more dynamic book.
This is not the book for those who want an engaging read- especially if you have little to no knowledge of the period, as do I.
I remember my A-level history teacher telling me never to right a commentary on political events because that’s not what a true historian does. It is however, what Rees-Mogg does.
I have no doubt of his academic abilities and his intellect. But, it would be more popular amongst the critics to have written a more dynamic book.
This is not the book for those who want an engaging read- especially if you have little to no knowledge of the period, as do I.
August 31, 2024
Written by Jacob Rees-Mogg, probably my favorite British politician due to his anachronistic style and mannerism, this book sought to refute various slanders and popular misconceptions of Victorian British Empire, especially the ones propagated by Lytton Strachey’s Eminent Victorians, which depicted various Victorian figures in rather unfavorable light.
Within this book, as the title suggests, we are being introduced to a dozen Victorian figures, both famous and lesser known, but nevertheless equally important in shaping Britain’s history and leaving important heritages which are fundamental to British people lives today. Those people are:
- Sir Robert Peel, believer of Free Trade for the progress of the Empire, even if it split his own party;
- Lord Palmerston, father of British Liberal Party, whose foreign policy spread British influences far and wide;
- Sir Charles Napier, Conqueror of Sindh, whose compassion for Queen Victoria’s Indian subjects put him at odds with his contemporaries;
- William Sleeman, a colonial administrator, whose meticulous study revealed the horrors of Thuggee Cult in India;
- Augustus Pugin, a troubled soul of an architect, his works became symbolic of Victorian Age, for example his ‘assitances’ on Westminster Palace;
-Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Victoria’s husband, who, in seemingly constitutional powerlessness, became patron of progress and model of earnestness and hard working;
- Sir Benjamin Disraeli, inveterate debtor with a vicious tongue, who rose from jewish background to British Prime Ministership, father of One Nation Toryism;
- Sir William Gladstone, personification of Victorian morality, whose morals became his sole guide to policymaking, even if it meant clash with the Queen;
- Sir Charles Gordon, conqueror of China and defender of Khartoum, whose death brought down a government;
- Albert Dicey, constitutional law scholar, who bequeathed referendum as the highest expression of people’s sovereignty;
- W. G. Grace, a cricket legend, who made a name for himself through sheer skill in playing professionally on a what is his contemporaries knew as ‘gentlemen’ game; and finally
- Queen Victoria herself, which in her long reign, The British Empire reached the apex of its global power, and having unprecedented progress at home. Playing her role as Monarch, wife, and mother, she succeeded in building British Monarchy into a potent symbol of unity.
As a collection of short biographies, it is expected that some figures are more interesting than others. I am at loss reading about W.G. Grace, since I don’t know a thing about cricket. However, I deem the book to be successful in delivering its points, and I guess it is good enough.
Within this book, as the title suggests, we are being introduced to a dozen Victorian figures, both famous and lesser known, but nevertheless equally important in shaping Britain’s history and leaving important heritages which are fundamental to British people lives today. Those people are:
- Sir Robert Peel, believer of Free Trade for the progress of the Empire, even if it split his own party;
- Lord Palmerston, father of British Liberal Party, whose foreign policy spread British influences far and wide;
- Sir Charles Napier, Conqueror of Sindh, whose compassion for Queen Victoria’s Indian subjects put him at odds with his contemporaries;
- William Sleeman, a colonial administrator, whose meticulous study revealed the horrors of Thuggee Cult in India;
- Augustus Pugin, a troubled soul of an architect, his works became symbolic of Victorian Age, for example his ‘assitances’ on Westminster Palace;
-Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Victoria’s husband, who, in seemingly constitutional powerlessness, became patron of progress and model of earnestness and hard working;
- Sir Benjamin Disraeli, inveterate debtor with a vicious tongue, who rose from jewish background to British Prime Ministership, father of One Nation Toryism;
- Sir William Gladstone, personification of Victorian morality, whose morals became his sole guide to policymaking, even if it meant clash with the Queen;
- Sir Charles Gordon, conqueror of China and defender of Khartoum, whose death brought down a government;
- Albert Dicey, constitutional law scholar, who bequeathed referendum as the highest expression of people’s sovereignty;
- W. G. Grace, a cricket legend, who made a name for himself through sheer skill in playing professionally on a what is his contemporaries knew as ‘gentlemen’ game; and finally
- Queen Victoria herself, which in her long reign, The British Empire reached the apex of its global power, and having unprecedented progress at home. Playing her role as Monarch, wife, and mother, she succeeded in building British Monarchy into a potent symbol of unity.
As a collection of short biographies, it is expected that some figures are more interesting than others. I am at loss reading about W.G. Grace, since I don’t know a thing about cricket. However, I deem the book to be successful in delivering its points, and I guess it is good enough.
May 25, 2024
I bought this out of curiosity from my local Oxfam store for two pounds. I was convinced that it couldn’t be as bad as the reviews made it out to be. I was wrong. I’m minded to ask for a refund. Without doubt the most tedious and mind numbingly banal piece of work I’ve ever come across. Utter dreck. I gave it one star because the book works well as a coaster.
August 21, 2022
An exceptionally good and captivating read about undervalued individuals.
March 17, 2024
Excellent history of this era.
September 20, 2019
Occasionally a book is so thoroughly panned that you are simply forced to read it. Although this wasn't quite the case with Nadine Dorris's attempts at fiction, her Conservative Party Colleague Jacob Rees-Mogg's profiles of 12 eminent Victorians did tempt me. Life being short however, I opted for the audiobook and so had the words piped into by ears in the doleful tones of the member for North East Somerset.
As a piece of historical writing Rees-Mogg's effort is not bad. The book does feel like a collection of A-level essays and, at times, they stray towards hagiography, but for all that it is interesting and well paced. There is no doubt that Rees-Mogg writes in a way which is deeply unfashionable but his style is not bad and lends itself quite well to narration (the audiobook is very well read by the author). Indeed given that Rees-Mogg's entire life appears to be a homage to Victorian Britishness you would feel a little cheated if this book wasn't quite so Rees-Moggian.
Indeed that is part of the books problem. It is inescapably written by Jacob Rees-Mogg and it is impossible not to read it in this light. This may well be the fate of all books written by up and coming politicians (I had a similar problem with Boris Johnson's The Churchill Factor) yet here it is seriously to the book's detriment.
Rees-Mogg does not get off to a glorious start in this regard. He compares Napier to a Blairite and opines what no socialists will be profiled here as as they merely hope "to cut back prosperity for all in the hope of attaining equality for all." A misunderstanding of socialism so fundamental it can only be intentional and therefore, political. Indeed when Rees-Mogg quotes at length from Palmerston he does so because the heartily agrees with the sentiment and believes it to be applicable today:
It is also hard not to read into the choices made for those profiled. Why, for example is the constitutionalist A. V. Dicey included but the more famous Bagehot and J. S. Mill are omitted, why include Pugin's romanticism but not Brunel's industrialism. One gets the feeling that the content of their views is something which Rees-Mogg finds admirable, rather than their contribution to the collective Victorian Legacy.
This book is no where near as bad as its critics claim in fact, I quite enjoyed it. I do however come away with the slight impression that I may not have got the whole story; that Rees-Moggs glasses are rose tinted and that many of those who built the world we still inhabit today are missing.
As a piece of historical writing Rees-Mogg's effort is not bad. The book does feel like a collection of A-level essays and, at times, they stray towards hagiography, but for all that it is interesting and well paced. There is no doubt that Rees-Mogg writes in a way which is deeply unfashionable but his style is not bad and lends itself quite well to narration (the audiobook is very well read by the author). Indeed given that Rees-Mogg's entire life appears to be a homage to Victorian Britishness you would feel a little cheated if this book wasn't quite so Rees-Moggian.
Indeed that is part of the books problem. It is inescapably written by Jacob Rees-Mogg and it is impossible not to read it in this light. This may well be the fate of all books written by up and coming politicians (I had a similar problem with Boris Johnson's The Churchill Factor) yet here it is seriously to the book's detriment.
Rees-Mogg does not get off to a glorious start in this regard. He compares Napier to a Blairite and opines what no socialists will be profiled here as as they merely hope "to cut back prosperity for all in the hope of attaining equality for all." A misunderstanding of socialism so fundamental it can only be intentional and therefore, political. Indeed when Rees-Mogg quotes at length from Palmerston he does so because the heartily agrees with the sentiment and believes it to be applicable today:
I hold with respect to alliances, that England is a Power sufficiently strong, sufficiently powerful, to steer her own course, and not to tie herself as an unnecessary appendage to the policy of any other Government.
It is also hard not to read into the choices made for those profiled. Why, for example is the constitutionalist A. V. Dicey included but the more famous Bagehot and J. S. Mill are omitted, why include Pugin's romanticism but not Brunel's industrialism. One gets the feeling that the content of their views is something which Rees-Mogg finds admirable, rather than their contribution to the collective Victorian Legacy.
This book is no where near as bad as its critics claim in fact, I quite enjoyed it. I do however come away with the slight impression that I may not have got the whole story; that Rees-Moggs glasses are rose tinted and that many of those who built the world we still inhabit today are missing.
August 6, 2019
Superb.
A broad sweep across the Victorian panorama.
Standouts: The knotted cloths of the Thugee, inspired Architecture of Pugin, the family-centric Queen Victoria and the last stand of Gordon against Islamic hordes in Sudan. Great stories.
A strong family was the foundation of the Victorian epoch.
A broad sweep across the Victorian panorama.
Standouts: The knotted cloths of the Thugee, inspired Architecture of Pugin, the family-centric Queen Victoria and the last stand of Gordon against Islamic hordes in Sudan. Great stories.
A strong family was the foundation of the Victorian epoch.
May 30, 2019
A very disappointing read. Mogg chooses 12 people who made a splash in Victorian times and devotes 30 pages to each.
What’s wrong with that ? Well the choice of personalities is not at issue and indeed I learnt a great deal about Sleeman and sir Charles Napier for example . It is just the stories told are pretty boring and the tone of voice is completely earnest and pedantic and without wit or irony. Moreover because the subject is only given 30 pages each time the treatment is rather anecdotal than forensic or scholarly. The result. - the bland teaching voice and the top down story structure - is all rather forgettable.
I had Rees Mogg down as a desirable dinner companion but reading this you see a tendency towards pedantry and « obviousness « which rather takes the shine off the author’s lustre.
What’s wrong with that ? Well the choice of personalities is not at issue and indeed I learnt a great deal about Sleeman and sir Charles Napier for example . It is just the stories told are pretty boring and the tone of voice is completely earnest and pedantic and without wit or irony. Moreover because the subject is only given 30 pages each time the treatment is rather anecdotal than forensic or scholarly. The result. - the bland teaching voice and the top down story structure - is all rather forgettable.
I had Rees Mogg down as a desirable dinner companion but reading this you see a tendency towards pedantry and « obviousness « which rather takes the shine off the author’s lustre.
February 16, 2020
Probably the most poorly written and researched book to ever be published. It's got all the charisma of a damp rag.
Its blatant sexist message is women shouldn't be seen and did nothing worth knowing about.
Mogg at times waffles so much its barely literate noncence on the page. The book comes across both as condescending and as if it was written by an 12yold who hasn't quite learned to put together a cohesive argument.
This deserves minus stars its frankly arse gravey
Its blatant sexist message is women shouldn't be seen and did nothing worth knowing about.
Mogg at times waffles so much its barely literate noncence on the page. The book comes across both as condescending and as if it was written by an 12yold who hasn't quite learned to put together a cohesive argument.
This deserves minus stars its frankly arse gravey
August 28, 2019
This was surprisingly good. Admittedly, the author had his "agenda", but the book itself is much more balanced than BoJo's "The Churchill Factor" for example. It is also well-written.
March 2, 2021
Until I finished this I was unaware of the opprobrium or furore surrounding it. Having read it, and having read a number of reviews on this site, I want to offer my own.
This book gave me a useful insight into a number of people about whom I previously knew very little. I knew most of the names, but even some of the names were new to me (Pugin, Sleaman). It is ostensibly well researched and gives some interesting details about these individuals. I am not, however, a historian, nor am I even passingly well-read on this particular era, so I cannot comment on the accuracy of JR-M's research. What is very clear is the astonishingly rose-tinted hue that all of these individuals are bathed in. Whilst they have their faults, and these are explored in detail, they are all seemingly people out of their age, despite being exemplars of that age. JR-M's constant assertions of the subjects' stance against e.g. racism, seems implausible at best, and disingenuous at worst. However, I say again - I'm not a historian.
JR-M's biases are also transparent throughout the writing, sometimes bordering on the toe-curling. His Europhobic slant, bordering on the xenophobic points, is almost enough (for a Remainer) to put it down and walk away. The tissue thin way in which he tries to link Empire and Victorian-era greatness with a resumption of the UK's ascendency following Brexit is occasionally embarrassing.
There is also a distinct Catholphile hue in his writing, further evidence of his prejudices. Almost every individual mentioned is commented on, to one degree or another, for their stance on Catholic emancipation - JR-M is a prominent Catholic, and that he makes so little effort to hide his prejudice detracts from the writing.
Lots of people appear to have attacked this book simply because of who JR-M is, rather than examining it for its literary worth. I am not a fan of JR-M, and you can debate the merit of his analysis, as well as his choice of 'Titans', but from a literary perspective, this is actually engagingly written. It also, as I said earlier, informed me about a number of individuals of whom I previously knew little.
On balance, therefore, I have given this book two stars - it is OK. If you know nothing about the era or the people concerned, you'll come away better informed.
Edition comment - I listened to the audiobook. This was mostly well delivered, and JR-M has the perfect voice to deliver a book on Victorians! However, there were some mildly annoying transitions where they had clearly edited patches in or out; the quality of the audio shifted, suggesting a different studio or recording session. A minor gripe.
This book gave me a useful insight into a number of people about whom I previously knew very little. I knew most of the names, but even some of the names were new to me (Pugin, Sleaman). It is ostensibly well researched and gives some interesting details about these individuals. I am not, however, a historian, nor am I even passingly well-read on this particular era, so I cannot comment on the accuracy of JR-M's research. What is very clear is the astonishingly rose-tinted hue that all of these individuals are bathed in. Whilst they have their faults, and these are explored in detail, they are all seemingly people out of their age, despite being exemplars of that age. JR-M's constant assertions of the subjects' stance against e.g. racism, seems implausible at best, and disingenuous at worst. However, I say again - I'm not a historian.
JR-M's biases are also transparent throughout the writing, sometimes bordering on the toe-curling. His Europhobic slant, bordering on the xenophobic points, is almost enough (for a Remainer) to put it down and walk away. The tissue thin way in which he tries to link Empire and Victorian-era greatness with a resumption of the UK's ascendency following Brexit is occasionally embarrassing.
There is also a distinct Catholphile hue in his writing, further evidence of his prejudices. Almost every individual mentioned is commented on, to one degree or another, for their stance on Catholic emancipation - JR-M is a prominent Catholic, and that he makes so little effort to hide his prejudice detracts from the writing.
Lots of people appear to have attacked this book simply because of who JR-M is, rather than examining it for its literary worth. I am not a fan of JR-M, and you can debate the merit of his analysis, as well as his choice of 'Titans', but from a literary perspective, this is actually engagingly written. It also, as I said earlier, informed me about a number of individuals of whom I previously knew little.
On balance, therefore, I have given this book two stars - it is OK. If you know nothing about the era or the people concerned, you'll come away better informed.
Edition comment - I listened to the audiobook. This was mostly well delivered, and JR-M has the perfect voice to deliver a book on Victorians! However, there were some mildly annoying transitions where they had clearly edited patches in or out; the quality of the audio shifted, suggesting a different studio or recording session. A minor gripe.
April 2, 2023
Still haven't finished.
Contains factual error, as soon as I spotted these I couldn't continue.. regardless of mistake, being ill-informed or more insidiously with the purpose of misleading, the book became firmly shelved.
A dreadfully patriarchal analysis of the pioneering characters of the time, as though it was written in the era rather than a reflection on the era..
It contains next to no enthusiasm for new thoughts on the subject rendering it a simple regurgitation of similar works containing no historical inaccuracies.
Again, somthing that could have found redemption through the refreshing looking glass of the female titans forgotten in this mass of black and white.
It reads as a not half bad college essay that would have been painful to mark, if it wasn't for the unfortunate historic mistakes to jolt the teacher mind back from utter decay.
Read
September 13, 2019This is a strange book. In some ways it answers the nasty accusations of Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians but it ultimately fails in its attempt to find out what made Victorians tick because Rees-Mogg does not understand the character, doctrines, influence and pervasiveness of the Evangelicalism which was the bedrock of Victorian thinking. Victorians were not mostly driven by a kind of Kantian duty-based morality. They believed in God, in heaven, in hell and in salvation. Evangelicals were not a majority, of course, but their influence was out of all proportion to their numbers. The very fact that Shaftesbury, for instance, is not one of the twelve Titans selected shows this up. He was surely more influential than Gordon.
December 17, 2024
This is an enjoyable if somewhat amateurish history of 12 figures who made and defined the Victorian age, to a degree the chapters come across as if they were written as an A level essay. While they dom`t offer any great analysis or insight they are an interesting sort of counter blast to the current trend of essentially trashing the values of the Victorian age and denouncing the great figures of the era, a point the author mentions more than once when referring to the sneers of liberals.
I suspect this book wouldn`t have been published if the author wasn`t a prominent politician but the work shouldn`t be just dismissed if you disagree with his politics.
I suspect this book wouldn`t have been published if the author wasn`t a prominent politician but the work shouldn`t be just dismissed if you disagree with his politics.
November 4, 2020
Absolutely compelling book. I read it in a few sittings and was fascinated by the Victorian era and how we can learn from it.
A must read if you're a fan of British history and especially the Victorians!
A must read if you're a fan of British history and especially the Victorians!
April 18, 2022
I certainly learnt from this book but it seems that JRM could have made it more accessible. Lots of words you've never heard before and overall a little too political. Probably should have expected that though
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews