Victorian London by Liza Picard
Liza Picard’s Victorian London, her fourth book on the capital, is readable, interesting stuff, but it seems to lack focus. Perhaps unavoidably for a book seeking to provide as much context as this does, lots of the information is not actually specific to London, and the overall approach is general. But what we lose in detail we gain in range, and a huge amount of subject matter is covered despite the fact that the book only deals with the first half of Victoria’s reign, from 1840 to 1870. The chapters on servants, the working classes, transport, and crime stand out in particular, and the sections on poverty put modern life into perspective. Victorian London will probably serve as a pretty good starting point for further exploration of the period, although it would have been nice to see a further reading section to save dredging the notes section for other more detailed treatments of areas of interest.
Oh, and apparently the old story about Victorians covering up the legs of pianos was made up, a rumour put about by some American bounder or other, shocking.