black hard cover board binding with white title and opera view image on the front board.

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The invention of photography in the first half of the 19th century gave people a completely different way of recording what was happening around them and soon professional and amateur photographers were turning their lenses onto every subject imaginable – monarchs and politicians, soldiers at war, industry and transport, farming and rural life, national celebrations, ordinary people at home and at work, entertainers and actors, fashion, sport, school and much else. Their work has given us a unique view of our nation’s heritage. This volume looks at the major events, people and stories of the 1890s through photographs that reveal the essence of those times. Gladstone, one of the giants of Victorian politics, retired from politics in 1894 but Victoria herself was still going strong – crowds thronged the streets of London to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee in 1897. Three years earlier, photographers had been there to record the opening of Tower Bridge and a Thames crowded with boats. Inventions from this decade included the electric kettle, introduced in 1891, and the tea bag. By the end of the decade Britain was once again at war – this time in South Africa, fighting a small but determined force of Boer settlers. Relive these times in the dramatic and moving pictures presented in this book.

Review: The second book that I have read of the Reader’s Digest Association series of the history of Britain in decade chunks illustrated with copious photographs and accompanying text. The first I read was the 1910s – The End of a World. This book is equally good. Again written by Jeremy Harwood he skillfully intertwines the narrative with the photographs. These books do not provide an in-depth or highly intellectual analysis of events, but in my view, hit absolutely the right note. Various subjects and events are swept through and along the way one is able to learn much about the politics, royal events, sociology, economics and technological advances of the 1890s. The main personalities involved in the key events are highlighted. The second stage of the Boer War took place in this decade; the key and ultimately decisive events of this war are covered.

The 1890s saw the advent of the motor vehicle and the building of Blackpool Tower, the Forth Bridge, the Tower Bridge and the Manchester Ship Canal; there is a wonderful photograph of the moment when water was let into Ellesmere Port. In short this book and its cohorts provide highly interesting and informative historical tasters of the decades that they cover. For the enquiring mind they give the reader many interesting threads of interest to follow in subsequent reading and discovery. They are ideal for the young reader as well as adult readers. I therefore thoroughly recommend this book and the series.