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One Hot Summer: Dickens, Darwin, Disraeli, and the Great Stink of 1858
While 1858 in London may have been noteworthy for its broiling summer months and the related stench of the sewage-filled Thames River, the year is otherwise little remembered. And yet, historian Rosemary Ashton reveals in this compelling microhistory, 1858 was marked by significant, if unrecognized, turning points. For ordinary people, and also for the rich, famous, and powerful, the months from May to August turned out to be a summer of consequence. Ashton mines Victorian letters and gossip, diaries, court records, newspapers, and other contemporary sources to uncover historically crucial moments in the lives of three protagonists--Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, and Benjamin Disraeli. She also introduces others who gained renown in the headlines of the day, among them George Eliot, Karl Marx, William Thackeray, and Edward Bulwer Lytton. Ashton reveals invisible threads of connection among Londoners at every social level in 1858, bringing the celebrated city and its citizens vibrantly to life.
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First published July 18, 2017
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Rosemary Ashton
33 books19 followersRosemary Ashton is Emeritus Quain Professor of English Language and Literature and an Honorary Fellow of UCL.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
July 22, 2018
The summer of 1858 saw London experiencing one of the hottest summers on record. The state of the River Thames was dangerous to Londoners and the press had long been putting pressure on the government to do something about it. It was the summer of, ‘the Great Stink,’ when the smell from the river, and the untreated sewage polluting it, made living in the city unbearable.
This intensive look at the summer of 1858 has a large cast of characters, but concentrates mainly on three men. Charles Dickens, forty six years old at the time, who, that summer, publicly separated from his wife. Rumours of his marital troubles spread across London, while he attempted to manage the fallout on his reputation and blacken the name of his wife. In a time of personal upheaval, he published no novel that year, but travelled across the country giving public readings; even though it was seen as vulgar to do so for financial gain. That summer was also the time of the, ‘Garrick Club Affair,’ which led to a row between him and Thackeray; who took umbrage to an article by Edmund Yates, whose work was defended by Dickens.
Disraeli, fifty three that year, was the current Chancellor the Exchequer. That summer, he was responsible for dealing with some essential, important legislation. These included the essential work of cleaning the Thames, the Medical Act and the Divorce Act. This book looks at some scandalous cases and at the important of the laws passed and the effect they had on the country.
Lastly, we have Darwin, forty nine that summer. An essay from Wallace, galvanised him into publishing his findings and to producing a work which, although rushed, and not as detailed as he had hoped, may have been less popular, had it been written with more care.
Although an almost forensic look at Victorian London over a number of weeks, with a large cast of characters, this book does suffer from the fact that the beginning of the book outlines everything that will be covered. The rest of the book is, essentially, just an extension of what is discussed in the beginning. I do think this could, perhaps, have benefited from a better editor. That said, this was a detailed and fascinating account of that era and of the lives of three, eminent men, and how they dealt with the events of their own life that hot, uncomfortable, summer in London.
This intensive look at the summer of 1858 has a large cast of characters, but concentrates mainly on three men. Charles Dickens, forty six years old at the time, who, that summer, publicly separated from his wife. Rumours of his marital troubles spread across London, while he attempted to manage the fallout on his reputation and blacken the name of his wife. In a time of personal upheaval, he published no novel that year, but travelled across the country giving public readings; even though it was seen as vulgar to do so for financial gain. That summer was also the time of the, ‘Garrick Club Affair,’ which led to a row between him and Thackeray; who took umbrage to an article by Edmund Yates, whose work was defended by Dickens.
Disraeli, fifty three that year, was the current Chancellor the Exchequer. That summer, he was responsible for dealing with some essential, important legislation. These included the essential work of cleaning the Thames, the Medical Act and the Divorce Act. This book looks at some scandalous cases and at the important of the laws passed and the effect they had on the country.
Lastly, we have Darwin, forty nine that summer. An essay from Wallace, galvanised him into publishing his findings and to producing a work which, although rushed, and not as detailed as he had hoped, may have been less popular, had it been written with more care.
Although an almost forensic look at Victorian London over a number of weeks, with a large cast of characters, this book does suffer from the fact that the beginning of the book outlines everything that will be covered. The rest of the book is, essentially, just an extension of what is discussed in the beginning. I do think this could, perhaps, have benefited from a better editor. That said, this was a detailed and fascinating account of that era and of the lives of three, eminent men, and how they dealt with the events of their own life that hot, uncomfortable, summer in London.
July 30, 2022
So far, it has been a very hot summer in 2022, with climate change contributing to heatwaves in many parts of the world, including the UK. By coincidence, just before the temperatures soared, I was finishing my read of this book about another hot summer, in 1858 - the year when it was finally decided to do something about the sewage pollution of the Thames and the disgusting smells and resulting health problems. Rosemary Ashton tells how MPs found it impossible to sit in Parliament because of the stench, and often rushed out with handkerchiefs pressed to their faces.
There are other books which go into more detail about civil engineer Joseph Bazalgette and how he solved the 'Great Stink' crisis, creating London's sewerage system and embanking the Thames. In this micro-history book, as the title makes clear, the heat and smells are more of a backdrop to the stories of three great men during that year (though the book does also range forwards and backwards in time).
For me the most compelling sections were about Dickens, who was breaking up his marriage and was also involved in the infamous Garrick Club Affair, which caused a bitter row between him and rival author Thackeray. As a long-time admirer, I already knew a lot of this from other biographies, but it was still an interesting read.
The other sections are about Disraeli and his political problems that year, including the passing of the Divorce Act, and Darwin, who was battling constant ill-health as he decided to prepare his life's work for quick publication, fearing another scientist was getting close to his discoveries.
There is also quite a bit about politician and author Bulwer Lytton, a friend of both Disraeli and Dickens, Lytton's vengeful estranged wife Rosina, who at one stage was forcibly detained in an asylum at her husband's instigation, and other figures such as Karl Marx.
I felt the book jumped around at times, but enjoyed the detail about the various figures mentioned and the life of London that summer. Lastly, I started off by listening to the book on Audible but found it impossible to get into it in that format, and got on much better when I got hold of a hardback copy from the library.
There are other books which go into more detail about civil engineer Joseph Bazalgette and how he solved the 'Great Stink' crisis, creating London's sewerage system and embanking the Thames. In this micro-history book, as the title makes clear, the heat and smells are more of a backdrop to the stories of three great men during that year (though the book does also range forwards and backwards in time).
For me the most compelling sections were about Dickens, who was breaking up his marriage and was also involved in the infamous Garrick Club Affair, which caused a bitter row between him and rival author Thackeray. As a long-time admirer, I already knew a lot of this from other biographies, but it was still an interesting read.
The other sections are about Disraeli and his political problems that year, including the passing of the Divorce Act, and Darwin, who was battling constant ill-health as he decided to prepare his life's work for quick publication, fearing another scientist was getting close to his discoveries.
There is also quite a bit about politician and author Bulwer Lytton, a friend of both Disraeli and Dickens, Lytton's vengeful estranged wife Rosina, who at one stage was forcibly detained in an asylum at her husband's instigation, and other figures such as Karl Marx.
I felt the book jumped around at times, but enjoyed the detail about the various figures mentioned and the life of London that summer. Lastly, I started off by listening to the book on Audible but found it impossible to get into it in that format, and got on much better when I got hold of a hardback copy from the library.
November 10, 2017
Rosemary Ashton’s One Hot Summer is a fine example of what is called Microhistory, a form of historical analysis that focuses in on a very short period of time. With the advent of digitization, vast quantities of material have become easily accessible to historians for research. Thus, with much knowledge at the historian’s fingertips, readers benefit from a rather microscopic look at a short period of time.
One Hot Summer focuses primarily on what is affectionally (?) referred to as the Great Stink of 1858. In the summer of that year the temperatures in London soared to record heights, the smell of the Thames soared to record levels of stink, and the lives of Dickens, Darwin and Disraeli were at a boil for different reasons altogether. In Ashton’s text we learn how Dickens’s marriage fell apart, how and why Darwin had to hurry up his writing to publish his ground-breaking analysis of evolution in 1859 and how Disraeli manoevered his way through parliament. Along with these three major players, a supporting cast of characters such as Edmund Yates, Bulwer Lytton, Karl Marx and George Eliot weave their way through the narrative.
The text is richly supported with detailed notes, an extensive bibliography and cross-links among the various characters and their individual, often quirky personalities. Included is a series of photographs and illustrations that give even more substance and weight to the narrative.
If you are like me, your interest may lean towards only one of these personalities. My specific interest was Dickens, but as I read through the text Ashton’s style and insights drew me into the lives of Darwin and Disraeli as well.
Anyone who enjoys learning about any of these three men or who wants to learn about the Victorian world of the 1850’s should read this book.
One Hot Summer focuses primarily on what is affectionally (?) referred to as the Great Stink of 1858. In the summer of that year the temperatures in London soared to record heights, the smell of the Thames soared to record levels of stink, and the lives of Dickens, Darwin and Disraeli were at a boil for different reasons altogether. In Ashton’s text we learn how Dickens’s marriage fell apart, how and why Darwin had to hurry up his writing to publish his ground-breaking analysis of evolution in 1859 and how Disraeli manoevered his way through parliament. Along with these three major players, a supporting cast of characters such as Edmund Yates, Bulwer Lytton, Karl Marx and George Eliot weave their way through the narrative.
The text is richly supported with detailed notes, an extensive bibliography and cross-links among the various characters and their individual, often quirky personalities. Included is a series of photographs and illustrations that give even more substance and weight to the narrative.
If you are like me, your interest may lean towards only one of these personalities. My specific interest was Dickens, but as I read through the text Ashton’s style and insights drew me into the lives of Darwin and Disraeli as well.
Anyone who enjoys learning about any of these three men or who wants to learn about the Victorian world of the 1850’s should read this book.
December 22, 2021
A micro history of the cultural importance of the summer of 1858 in Victorian English history, the intemperately warm summer where the crisis of Thames sewerage became unavoidable.
Three major cultural changes were occurring: the diversion of major sewage from the Thames, which in this summer was unavoidably noxious and which led to a career launching breakthrough for Disraeli's political career, the divorce of Dickens that he tried to hide from the public but which exploded into public consciousness alongside other spectacular marital issues which lead to a revision and easing of the divorce laws in Britain (and the world), and the events which led to Darwin's release of the initial findings of his theory of natural selection, which obviously changed the world.
For me, it never really summed up into a coherent vision, but it was certainly an important summer, and I did learn more about Dickens and Darwin (really, the most important hero of the book). It's a brisk read and an enlightening one, just not world changing. I do enjoy the recent trend in these micro histories, zeroing in on key years or seasons rather than tome length biographies. Worth the time and effort and can be read in a few days.
Three major cultural changes were occurring: the diversion of major sewage from the Thames, which in this summer was unavoidably noxious and which led to a career launching breakthrough for Disraeli's political career, the divorce of Dickens that he tried to hide from the public but which exploded into public consciousness alongside other spectacular marital issues which lead to a revision and easing of the divorce laws in Britain (and the world), and the events which led to Darwin's release of the initial findings of his theory of natural selection, which obviously changed the world.
For me, it never really summed up into a coherent vision, but it was certainly an important summer, and I did learn more about Dickens and Darwin (really, the most important hero of the book). It's a brisk read and an enlightening one, just not world changing. I do enjoy the recent trend in these micro histories, zeroing in on key years or seasons rather than tome length biographies. Worth the time and effort and can be read in a few days.
December 18, 2018
A book about a fairly well known year in British history. Any history of 1858 focuses on how horribly polluted the Thames was, and that the stench was so bad Members of Parliment were seen to rush from Westminster to get away from the smell. While this book goes over that, the author shows that the issues with the Thames were a springboard for many innovations that came about in the Victorian Era. While the book wasn't exactly what I was looking for when I read it on Scribd, it was still an enjoyable read and I learned quite a few things about that year that I didn't know before. The book touches on some of the scandals, political issues and scientific research from that year. I learned more about Disraeli than I had known before. It's an interesting read I suggest it for those who want to know more about this era.
September 19, 2024
What an interesting summer!! I can’t imagine the horrors of the stench of the Thames. I have read several other books on this and the remake of the sewage system. Interesting all the intersects of the three Ds. What a challenging year for all three. I must admit I was so thankful for some of those Victorian ladies who got their divorces. It was legalised that year. Telling their stories through the papers was an interesting take on how people would often fight some of their battles and win sides. It’s amazing how much material there was to write an entire book on this summer alone, but I did feel at times it was a bit tedious. Great read altogether.
December 30, 2019
A rather boring summer in London is the subject of this rather boring book.
"One Hot Summer" is a title that has been used for numerous spicy romance novels (do check out every goodreads cover of books using the title and try not to be aroused). "One Hot Summer" is also the title of more than a few films of a stimulating nature (don't google it). Ashton seemed to try to counter all these steamy works by writing a book about a summer in which nothing happened in London.
She is doing microhistory, something she states explicitly at the book's beginning, so the reader should not expect grand narratives. But Ashton seems to have simply read through most of the newspapers from the summer of 1858, summarized what everyone in London was talking about and then tried to connect them into a single narrative, using the figures of Dickens, Darwin, Disraeli and Thackery as characters in this sketch of London that summer, with several events, a heat wave that turns the Thames into a putrified scar dividing the capital and a fracas between Dickens and Thackery that played in the papers but did not really resonate.
A microhistory should explore a small topic to expose truths about a time that echo with larger issues. This work does not quite succeed because it does not really echo these larger issues, it does not say why what happened was small but of great significance.
Still, a decent exploration of life in London in the Victorian period.
"One Hot Summer" is a title that has been used for numerous spicy romance novels (do check out every goodreads cover of books using the title and try not to be aroused). "One Hot Summer" is also the title of more than a few films of a stimulating nature (don't google it). Ashton seemed to try to counter all these steamy works by writing a book about a summer in which nothing happened in London.
She is doing microhistory, something she states explicitly at the book's beginning, so the reader should not expect grand narratives. But Ashton seems to have simply read through most of the newspapers from the summer of 1858, summarized what everyone in London was talking about and then tried to connect them into a single narrative, using the figures of Dickens, Darwin, Disraeli and Thackery as characters in this sketch of London that summer, with several events, a heat wave that turns the Thames into a putrified scar dividing the capital and a fracas between Dickens and Thackery that played in the papers but did not really resonate.
A microhistory should explore a small topic to expose truths about a time that echo with larger issues. This work does not quite succeed because it does not really echo these larger issues, it does not say why what happened was small but of great significance.
Still, a decent exploration of life in London in the Victorian period.
September 30, 2018
A good idea for a work of popular history, taking one year and analysing events through the experiences of three major figures, Dickens, Darwin and Disraeli. In fact, it’s not so much the whole year as just the summer as the other major ‘character ‘ is ‘the big stink’ which forced parliament to at last take action at the amount of sewage pouring into the Thames.
I quite enjoyed the book but did get irritated with Ashton’s failure to stick with her chronological structure. At times, her meandering led to tedious repetitions, particularly in the sections on Darwin’s decisions around the publication of ‘The Origin of the Species ‘. It would also have been good to have more extracts from the diaries and letters of ordinary Londoners reflecting the effect the long hot summer had on them.
I quite enjoyed the book but did get irritated with Ashton’s failure to stick with her chronological structure. At times, her meandering led to tedious repetitions, particularly in the sections on Darwin’s decisions around the publication of ‘The Origin of the Species ‘. It would also have been good to have more extracts from the diaries and letters of ordinary Londoners reflecting the effect the long hot summer had on them.
August 28, 2020
Micro-histories are always a bit of a challenge, even as they give the historian a chance to delve deeply into a single object, event or time (in this case, June to August of 1858). You can't assume your reader has the intimate knowledge of the subjects as you do, so you have to provide a certain amount of context, which necessarily expands the focus. I think Ashton mostly succeeds in this regard, giving us brief but necessary backgrounds on her three main figures and the Thames itself, although it felt a little repetitive at times.
Perhaps because I know the most about him, I found the bits about Dickens the most interesting, especially as that particular summer dragged him over the coals. Disraeli, too had a lot going on, especially in terms of his government's policies, and it's astonishing how many major pieces of legislation he managed to guide through parliament. Darwin's inclusion, although his work is arguably the most important, feels a bit forced, but I think that's just because his life just wasn't that exciting, relatively speaking. The Bulwer Lyttons are just bonkers.
Lots of interesting information and a wide-ranging snapshot of a single important summer.
Perhaps because I know the most about him, I found the bits about Dickens the most interesting, especially as that particular summer dragged him over the coals. Disraeli, too had a lot going on, especially in terms of his government's policies, and it's astonishing how many major pieces of legislation he managed to guide through parliament. Darwin's inclusion, although his work is arguably the most important, feels a bit forced, but I think that's just because his life just wasn't that exciting, relatively speaking. The Bulwer Lyttons are just bonkers.
Lots of interesting information and a wide-ranging snapshot of a single important summer.
Want to read
September 24, 2020Listened to about a quarter of this in summer 2019. It had a bit too much detailed unfamiliar info and argument for me to want to continue listening to it as audio, and for the foreseeable future, taking the time to read this in a text format, or possibly read and listen at the same time, is not a priority for me. (I'm also really not a summer/hot weather person, which lessens its appeal for me in other seasons.) However in general I think it seemed like a good & interesting piece of history writing on that useful cusp between popular and full-on academic, and that the low average rating and negative reviews on here are not justified. These seem like a case of the book not having found the right audience - it is for readers who want something slightly more academic than average popular history, but with more of a narrative and stretchy connections than found in a specialist scholarly monograph.
There are a few notes about the actual history content in the status updates, visible below if you are on desktop.
Started 29 June 2019.
There are a few notes about the actual history content in the status updates, visible below if you are on desktop.
Started 29 June 2019.
August 4, 2020
Entertaining and well-written. A detailed history as reported in the London newspapers of the events of the record hot summer of 1858, when the Thames broke out into a filthy reek.
November 10, 2017
Interesting information which would have benefited from a better editor.
July 27, 2019
This is a very different kind of history book. It goes deep in time, painting a picture of one place for one year, covering key press moments and figures. I don’t feel like I came away learning much or growing in any way, but I really enjoyed the take.
October 10, 2023
Disappointing in two arenas: There's a slight whiff of these three being drawn together more because the author wanted three Victorians whose names start with "D" than from a true link. But more distracting was Ashton's continued emphasis on how hard this heat wave was on those in Parliament -- who are NOT shy about whining incessantly. Obviously near-90 degrees without air conditioning is horrendous. Add to that the stifling garments of the time and yes, you have this Texan's sympathy, a Texan who is in the midst of her own 107+degree summer. (Yes, with a/c, but please). The constant haranguing gets tedious, partially because Ashton herself drones it into us. She refers to "the politicians who were suffering more than anyone from the Great Stink". This is outrageous. Men seated indoors, pontificating, are suffering more than laborers? More than chimney sweeps and stevedores and housemaids and those confined to poorhouses? More than the starving mudlarks, little children who sifted through the banks of the Thames, trying to dredge up any item they might sell for food? The huge percentage of Londoners who "lived" crammed into hovels with no choice but to drink from and wash with those fetid waters? This myopia becomes enraging, especially because it feels like Ashton shares it. Her research is impressive, but the tone screams so loudly that it drowns out those efforts.
October 6, 2017
I'm just getting into this but so far it's fascinating. Readers of Ben Aaronovitch's marvelous Rivers of London series, which includes so much history and lore about that great city, might find this in-depth look at 1858, a year of decisive change, particularly interesting. (For one thing, it was the beginning of the great Thames Embankment and sewer tunnels that are the setting for Whispers Underground.)
The year was a turning point in the lives of several great English people, including Benjamin Disraeli, Charles Darwin, and Charles Dickens, who are the central figures in the book.
The year was a turning point in the lives of several great English people, including Benjamin Disraeli, Charles Darwin, and Charles Dickens, who are the central figures in the book.
November 3, 2017
The title is not the only stinky thing about this book, which is a total mash-up of historical events occuring in the summer of 1858 to three totally unrelated people listed in the title. The book lists itself as a "micro" history gleaned from the newspapers and communications (mostly letters) of the aforementioned people. What will we do now that the written communique is gone? I can't believe that there will be archives of email or Facebook 100 years from now for authors like Ashton to troll. I did learn a few things, mostly unpleasant, about the establishment of divorce courts in England and details about Dickens' mid-life meltdown. I finished this book, which is an accomplishment in itself, but I liked it a "micro" lot. Or "nano" lot. or not at all, now that I think about it.
October 28, 2020
The scholarship and research is first rate, but this exercise in micro-focused history is so relentlessly detailed and minute that it makes for an exhausting read, as opposed to an entertaining & exhilarating read. Perhaps condensing so much into so short as space isn't quite as productive as it could be, but I will not deny that this is an incredibly informative work. I only wish reading it didn't feel like so much of a chore at times.
April 16, 2021
This book required way more knowledge than I had of the period and is not for the general interested reader. An expert would probably get a lot more from the book. Also I feel deciding to concentrate on Dickens, Darwin and Disraeli was a mistake. It felt like the book was trapped by this. The best parts were looking at social history, especially the Crinoline section.
May 30, 2018
This had some interesting bits, but spent far too much time on Dickens and not enough on the other key subjects and general history.
August 15, 2018
Sluggish in spots but overall really fascinating :)
October 7, 2025
One Hot Summer: Dickens, Darwin, Disraeli and the Great Stink of 1858 is a work of nonfiction which could have been so much stronger than it turned out to be.
The premise is pretty simple: British historian Rosemary Ashton sought to take a snapshot in time of the summer of 1858 in London. This snapshot singles out several influential English individuals (whose names are featured in the subtitle) and essentially tells the story of what was going on in their lives during this stretch of time.
Why this season and year?
This incredibly searing summer featured the pollution of the Thames River reaching such proportions that legislation was actually proposed to clear it up during the so-called Great Stink of 1858 affair. It would have made sense if the book featured an environmental and ultimately political history of the Thames and how it came to be so noxious that Parliament, led at the time by Benjamin Disraeli's Conservatives, could not ignore it any longer.
But Ashton instead chose an unconventional method of framing her story.
Aside from his efforts as Prime Minister to put forward Thames-cleaning legislation, Disraeli was busy dealing with the fallout from an extramarital affair and with anti-Semitic attacks from fellow legislators. The Prime Minister, who was also known for his literary skills, was shown to be a man attempting to balance the interests of his Conservative party with some of his own personal inclinations toward passing-for the Victorian Era at least-progressive laws.
Charles Darwin was busy compiling what would become his groundbreaking On the Origin of Species, and the book spends time detailing how his agreements and disagreements with fellow British scientists and intellectuals (and even with his own wife Emma, who was considered how the evolutionary theory would impact Christians who believed in the literal seven day Creation story) shaped this chapter in his life.
The sketches of Disraeli and Darwin are some of the strongest portions of the book.
The third member of the trio, Charles Dickens, was awaiting the serial release of A Tale of Two Cities but was dealing with marital problems of his own. He and his wife Catherine were-thanks to his dabbling with a younger woman-on the verge of testing England's recently liberalized divorce laws.
There is ample discussion of the Garrick Club Affair over the course of the book, a scandal which involved Dickens and fellow Victorian novelist Charles Thackeray butting heads during 1858.
Even Edmund Yates, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, and George Eliot rear their heads and become contributors to One Hot summer at one point or another.
This book, which has been labeled as a domestic microhistory of the wider Victorian Era, has its interesting moments. Each of the three individuals it zeroes in on are worthy of multivolume biographies of their own for their contributions to society in Britain and beyond.
But it just becomes so scattershot and the Great Stink (which could have received a book of its own) episode ends up feeling like an event just picked out post hoc in order to throw these three dudes into the same nonfiction book.
One Hot Summer: Dickens, Darwin, Disraeli and the Great Stink of 1858 is not awful and does not collapse under its own weight, but it is deserving of just three stars thanks to the subpar execution by author Rosemary Ashton.
-Andrew Canfield Denver, Colorado
The premise is pretty simple: British historian Rosemary Ashton sought to take a snapshot in time of the summer of 1858 in London. This snapshot singles out several influential English individuals (whose names are featured in the subtitle) and essentially tells the story of what was going on in their lives during this stretch of time.
Why this season and year?
This incredibly searing summer featured the pollution of the Thames River reaching such proportions that legislation was actually proposed to clear it up during the so-called Great Stink of 1858 affair. It would have made sense if the book featured an environmental and ultimately political history of the Thames and how it came to be so noxious that Parliament, led at the time by Benjamin Disraeli's Conservatives, could not ignore it any longer.
But Ashton instead chose an unconventional method of framing her story.
Aside from his efforts as Prime Minister to put forward Thames-cleaning legislation, Disraeli was busy dealing with the fallout from an extramarital affair and with anti-Semitic attacks from fellow legislators. The Prime Minister, who was also known for his literary skills, was shown to be a man attempting to balance the interests of his Conservative party with some of his own personal inclinations toward passing-for the Victorian Era at least-progressive laws.
Charles Darwin was busy compiling what would become his groundbreaking On the Origin of Species, and the book spends time detailing how his agreements and disagreements with fellow British scientists and intellectuals (and even with his own wife Emma, who was considered how the evolutionary theory would impact Christians who believed in the literal seven day Creation story) shaped this chapter in his life.
The sketches of Disraeli and Darwin are some of the strongest portions of the book.
The third member of the trio, Charles Dickens, was awaiting the serial release of A Tale of Two Cities but was dealing with marital problems of his own. He and his wife Catherine were-thanks to his dabbling with a younger woman-on the verge of testing England's recently liberalized divorce laws.
There is ample discussion of the Garrick Club Affair over the course of the book, a scandal which involved Dickens and fellow Victorian novelist Charles Thackeray butting heads during 1858.
Even Edmund Yates, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, and George Eliot rear their heads and become contributors to One Hot summer at one point or another.
This book, which has been labeled as a domestic microhistory of the wider Victorian Era, has its interesting moments. Each of the three individuals it zeroes in on are worthy of multivolume biographies of their own for their contributions to society in Britain and beyond.
But it just becomes so scattershot and the Great Stink (which could have received a book of its own) episode ends up feeling like an event just picked out post hoc in order to throw these three dudes into the same nonfiction book.
One Hot Summer: Dickens, Darwin, Disraeli and the Great Stink of 1858 is not awful and does not collapse under its own weight, but it is deserving of just three stars thanks to the subpar execution by author Rosemary Ashton.
-Andrew Canfield Denver, Colorado
November 21, 2017
“One Hot Summer: Dickens, Darwin, Disraeli and the Great Stink of 1858,” by Rosemary Ashton (Yale, 2017). The lives of these three great men are tenuously linked to provide a thread to the story. The Great Stink was the Thames, which had become London’s open sewer and in that summer, which was extremely hot (at least one temperature over 100 F), the stench was overwhelming. Benjamin Disraeli was chancellor of the exchequer of the minority government, and during this time Parliament debated how to handle the sewage situation, and decided to commission Joseph Bazalgette to create embankments on both sides of the river and to build sewers to direct the outflow north and south of the city. Disraeli also maneuvered to pass a bill that allowed Jews to actually sit in Parliament (without having to swear to Christianity) and to extend the franchise to men having paying more than 10 pounds rent (instead of having to own land). Meanwhile, Dickens did no writing, but instead became embroiled in a humiliating fiasco involving his wife, Catherine, whom he wanted to divorce. He made the affair public, and the press latched on to it. This was the year that divorce was finally made possible, and the very first divorce cases began going through. Meanwhile, Dickens engaged in a public quarrel with Thackeray over what we today would consider something completely inconsequential: one of Dickens’ friends wrote something disparaging about Thackeray’s behavior at the Garrick Club, Thackeray took umbrage, Dickens came to the defense, and the press loved this too. Dickens began giving reading tours all over the country and in Ireland, making huge amounts of money but exhausting himself doing it. As for Darwin, 1858 was the year he received the letter from Alfred Russel Wallace indicated that Wallace had come up with the same theory for divergence of species, and Darwin had better write his book and publish it to claim credit. All of this is exhaustively chronicled, along with accounts of the lives of many other notables and not-so, including Bulwer-Lytton’s fierce divorce battle with his increasingly deranged wife; the craze for crinolines; the goings on in the theater and the cultural life of the city.Through all this, the newspapers and magazines kept a day—by-day running account of all these events. Most of this book, in fact, is heavily indebted to the extremely active British press, which kept track of everything. What a story!
https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/97803...
https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/97803...
May 8, 2018
After finishing this book in an unseasonably hot London, my mind was very much attuned to the possibility premised in this book, namely, that the oppressive, stifling heat of the summer of 1858 contributed to the actions of the three men the book explores. My interest in this book was predominantly focussed on Dickens and the way in which he unceremoniously brought to an end a marriage that had endured the birth of 10 children and the rise of Dickens's illustrious professional career as a writer, abandoning his faithful and patient wife to pursue the idea of a life free from his responsibilities as a husband, and ultimately, a young actress the same age as his daughter. Drawing extensively from archive material, particularly the press of the time, Ashton paints a rather vibrant picture of a London society as she explores the lives of the men who lived in it. As I sit here in my air conditioned flat, with the Thames long since having been cleansed of the putrid filth which caused it to ferment to poisonous proportions, could it really have been possible that the heat did indeed, in some ways cause the men to behave recklessly? The difficulty with focussing on such a short space of time, is that there is a risk that the context is lost in the heat of the moment, so to speak. Dickens had long since been struggling with his feelings of restlessness in his marriage, those feelings given greater urgency after meeting Ellen Ternan. Nevertheless, it seems that countless academics and historians have, to some extent, found his behaviour as he separated from his wife almost inexplicable. Ashton does her best to place that behaviour in the insidious tedium of relentless summer heat. Written authoritatively, in an engaging and entertaining manner, this book is definitely a great read to try and shed more light on the bewildering actions of the Inimitable during his marital difficulties.
June 22, 2018
Not quite as engaging a history book as Churchill's History of the English Speaking People, Vol I, which I finished just before I read this. This book concentrates on one year in British history, 1858. It was a phenomenal year in terms of developments in science, literature, law (particularly divorce law) and politics. Lots of familiar names appear, and famous people interact with each other in both positive and negative ways. Alfred Russell Wallace and Darwin were hard at work, Disraeli was rising to power despite his quirky personality, foppish dress and unpopular religion, and Dickens was in a constant state of polite and not so polite war with his wife, the writer Thackeray, and his children. Wilkie Collins was known then for a play, The Frozen Deep, that he did with Dickens. He would later base Woman in White on an infamous divorce scandal of the day. And all that summer the Thames stank, as the sewage system of the time was based on throwing everything in the river.
The book was a little annoying in structure as it circled back on itself a number of times rather than taking a linear route thru, but the facts were interesting. I do not feel fortunate, however, to now know that Dickens was a talented but totally obnoxious cad, cruel to his wife and uncaring to his children. As I love his works, I am rather sorry to know that.
The book was a little annoying in structure as it circled back on itself a number of times rather than taking a linear route thru, but the facts were interesting. I do not feel fortunate, however, to now know that Dickens was a talented but totally obnoxious cad, cruel to his wife and uncaring to his children. As I love his works, I am rather sorry to know that.
November 26, 2017
By no means is the three star rating an indication of the quality of writing or research in this book. On the contrary, I kept noting passages to show to my students how to handle research and analysis. The rating is purely based on my personal enjoyment of the times reported. While I enjoy Victorian literature and history, this book was more academic than I anticipated based on the title. I enjoyed the book but did not love it. Perhaps the narrow scope of time was too specialized for my personal preference. Again, this is a preference issue, not a quality issue.
If you are an avid Victorian on any level, you MUST read this book, which zooms in on events of one summer and the ripple effects that came from them.
While the Victorian era is often romanticized as one of moral virtue and modesty, it is fascinating the changes going on that undermined the foundations of the perceived conservative values. Both the publication of Origin of Species and the passing of the divorce legislation marked significant paradigm shifts in British society--all in one summer. Set against the backdrop of the stinky river and the politics that addressed it, 1858 truly was One Hot Summer.
If you are an avid Victorian on any level, you MUST read this book, which zooms in on events of one summer and the ripple effects that came from them.
While the Victorian era is often romanticized as one of moral virtue and modesty, it is fascinating the changes going on that undermined the foundations of the perceived conservative values. Both the publication of Origin of Species and the passing of the divorce legislation marked significant paradigm shifts in British society--all in one summer. Set against the backdrop of the stinky river and the politics that addressed it, 1858 truly was One Hot Summer.
December 17, 2017
A good book, covering London in the summer of 1858, one of the hotter summers experienced by that city in the Victorian era. That year saw major turning points in the careers of scientist Charles Darwin, writer Charles Dickens, and politician Benjamin Disraeli. It also saw major developments for Victorians as a whole, with a change in Divorce law allowing greater rights to women, the passing of legislation which stripped the East India Company of political power in India, and the development of the first modern sewage system. All of these are shown to be interconnected with each other and the oppressive weather in this well-written history. The author makes a persuasive argument that 1858 was the year, in England at least, that the century turned from a pull away from the 18th to a push towards the 20th. Great for those wanting to know more about life in the mid-Victorian era or the tribulations of Darwin, Dickens, and Disraeli.
July 20, 2017
http://www.npr.org/2017/07/18/5378904...
not on the library website yet
from the interview above
On why divorce, adultery and marital discord were in the papers at the time
The previous year, 1857, Parliament had, after many years of trying, passed a divorce act which made divorce somewhat easier than it had been before. Divorce before the 1857 act was well nigh impossible unless you had a great deal of time and money on your side. And, of course for women, it was actually not possible at all. It was during our hot summer that some of the most interesting and difficult cases came to the court to the new divorce court and of course this was avidly followed by the reading public. ...
not on the library website yet
from the interview above
On why divorce, adultery and marital discord were in the papers at the time
The previous year, 1857, Parliament had, after many years of trying, passed a divorce act which made divorce somewhat easier than it had been before. Divorce before the 1857 act was well nigh impossible unless you had a great deal of time and money on your side. And, of course for women, it was actually not possible at all. It was during our hot summer that some of the most interesting and difficult cases came to the court to the new divorce court and of course this was avidly followed by the reading public. ...
February 22, 2019
One Hot Summer is an interesting slice of London during the particularly hot summer of 1858 when the smell deriving from the Thames was pungent enough to be remembered as the Great Stink. This work focuses on events surrounding Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin, and Benjamin Disraeli during the summer of 1858. For Dickens, a public divorce from his wife of 20 years and a spat with Thackeray. For Darwin, physical ailments and the realization he was not the only one hypothesizing about Natural Selection with reception of a letter from Alfred Russell Wallace from the Malay Peninsula. For Disraeli, the passing of key legislation like the Government of India Act. Good stuff on the transition of English divorce law.
December 2, 2023
Excellent. I love how Rosemary Ashton focuses in on a short period of time—a few months in the summer of 1858—yet manages to provide great insight into life in Victorian England. Before reading the book, Dickens was one of my heroes, I had great respect for Darwin, and I knew little about Disraeli. The book confirmed my high opinion of Darwin, taught me much about the fascinating life of Disraeli, and took Dickens down a peg in my pantheon. I enjoyed the book, and highly recommend it.
December 13, 2017
Fascinating account of the summer of 1858 making grand use of newly digitized newspapers as a resource. This is the long hot summer of the beginning of the modern divorce court, the year Darwin was spurred to write Origin of Species, the hottest average summer temperature in London, and the year that London had to face the fact that it would have to stop dumping untreated sewage in the Thames.
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