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The Regency Years: During Which Jane Austen Writes, Napoleon Fights, Byron Makes Love, and Britain Becomes Modern Paperback – July 7, 2020

by Robert Morrison (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 207 ratings
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An Economist History Book of the Year

 “Elegant, entertaining and frequently surprising.” ―Miranda Seymour, New York Times Book Review

The Victorians are often credited with ushering in our current era, yet the seeds of change were planted during the earlier Regency period (1811–1820) when the profligate Prince of Wales―the future king George IV―succeeded his father. Around the Prince Regent surged a society of contrasts: evangelicalism and hedonism, elegance and brutality, exuberance and despair. Capturing the Napoleonic Wars, the rise of artists―the Shelleys, Austen, Keats, Byron, Turner―scientists and inventors―Stevenson, Davy, Faraday―and a cast of dissident journalists, military leaders, and fashionistas, Robert Morrison captivatingly illuminates the ways this period shaped the modern world.

38 black-and-white illustrations
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  1. Print length
    384 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    W. W. Norton & Company
  4. Publication date
    July 7, 2020
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 1 x 8.3 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0393358240
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0393358247
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Given such plenty, what more could one ask from a work of cultural history?"
― Michael Dirda, Washington Post

"A lively account of a turning point in British history.… Robert Morrison creates an indelible impression of the Regency."
― Clare Brant, Times Higher Education (UK)

"Superb.… The Regency period lasted for less than a decade but, as Mr. Morrison argues, ‘its many legacies are still all around us.’ It was also, as this book amply proves, marvellously entertaining."
― Economist

"[A] zippy and vivid portrait."
― Henry Hitchings, Sunday Times (UK)

"The Prince Regent… ruled over a period of extraordinary creativity and it is that progressive cultural legacy that Mr. Morrison commends to contemporary Britain and the rest of the world."
― Ruth Scurr, Wall Street Journal

"Robert Morrison is my ideal of what a scholar should be―lively and interesting, he makes the past relevant to today."
― David Morrell, author of the Thomas and Emily De Quincey trilogy

"This engaging history transports readers to England."
― Tom Beer, Newsday

"A triumph of historical storytelling."
― Deidre Shauna Lynch, author of Loving Literature: A Cultural History

"The Regency Years reads like a romance novel of its period without the novel, but makes an entertaining nonfiction read with superior prose and dialogue."
― Robert S. Davis, New York Journal of Books

"Readers of this brilliant book will enjoy a rich experience, full of memorable surprises."
― Patricia Meyer Spacks, author of The Female Imagination

About the Author

Robert Morrison is British Academy Global Professor at Bath Spa University in England, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He has produced editions of works by Jane Austen and Thomas De Quincey. He lives in Bath, England.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company (July 7, 2020)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393358240
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393358247
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 8.3 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 207 ratings

About the author

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Robert Morrison

Robert Morrison

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Robert Morrison studied at the University of Lethbridge; the University of Oxford; and the University of Edinburgh. Currently he is British Academy Global Professor at Bath Spa University and Queen's National Scholar at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. He specializes in nineteenth-century British literature and culture.

His most recent book, The Regency Years, During Which Jane Austen Writes, Napoleon Fights, Byron Makes Love and Britain Becomes Modern (2019), was longlisted for the RBC Taylor Prize, and named by The Economist as a Book of the Year. His biography of Thomas De Quincey, The English Opium-Eater (2009), was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize. Morrison published Thomas De Quincey: Selected Writings in the 21st-Century Oxford Authors series (2019). His annotated edition of Jane Austen's Persuasion was published by Harvard University Press (2011). With Daniel Sanjiv Roberts, he edited Romanticism and Blackwood's Magazine: "An Unprecedented Phenomenon" (2013) and Thomas De Quincey: New Theoretical and Critical Directions (2008). With Chris Baldick, he edited The Vampyre and Other Tales of the Macabre (1997) and Tales of Terror from Blackwood’s Magazine (1995) for Oxford World's Classics.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
207 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Andy & Steph
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant entertaining overview of the Regency period
Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2021
Verified Purchase
I'm halfway through and LOVING this book. It's so easy to read, not at all stuffy, and very enlightening. I'm a Jane Austen fan, but there is still a lot in here that I didn't know about the period in which she wrote and set her novels. I read other reviews before deciding to purchase, and the biggest complaint from those who didn't give it a 5/5 seemed to be that it didn't go into enough detail. That is true, but isn't the intention of the book. The book is intended as an overview of the period: the wars, the literature, the theater, etc. It gives plenty of excellent insight and information, and at least steers the reader in the right direction for any topic you might want to read more deeply into. If you are interested in the Regency, and either know nothing of the period, or just a little bit here and there, then I absolutely recommend this read. If you're already a scholar of the period, then you might find this book a bit light. I, for one, am delighted with my purchase.
10 people found this helpful
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M. A Newman
4.0 out of 5 stars The years Britain went modern
Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2019
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This is an excellent overview of the Regency period. It digests a complicated period which featured change on multiple fronts: political, military literary, scientific, cultural artistic, and ethical. It was a time where stolid George III was replaced by his hedonistic son. Napoleon was defeated by the inimitable Wellington. Austin, Byron, Shelly (both of them) and Keats wrote. Faraday invented. London was redesigned thanks to Thomas Nash. Lawrence, Constable, and Turner painted. Reforms, ranging from expanding the franchise to the abolition of slavery, were contemplated. Morrison does an excellent job in examining this phenomenon. Of particular interest is his examination of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, which he gives its proper due.
7 people found this helpful
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Denisa E. Dellinger
5.0 out of 5 stars The Who, What, Where, and Whens that you will ever need to know about the Regency period.
Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2022
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This is an extremely well written history of the Regency period. It covers a myriad of topics. Many times, history can be boring and hard to follow but the format is easy to follow. It contains illustrations as well. I loved finding out more about the well-known figures of the history of that period. I read it for my Jane Austen book club and found it very enjoyable.
4 people found this helpful
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Spike12
5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable & Informative
Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2019
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I especially liked the in-depth treatment of homosexuality in Regency times as I haven’t found this treated elsewhere. The writing is also clear and easy to read. I enjoyed it greatly, & I have read a number of books on this period.
4 people found this helpful
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Pacific9
5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly Good
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2020
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While i read several good published reviews of this, i enjoyed this even more than i thought i would. This ten year period is incredibltly fascinating and this is bery well told
4 people found this helpful
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Dr. Carol Pippen
4.0 out of 5 stars content of book
Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2023
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Informative and readable style
One person found this helpful
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UES Reader
3.0 out of 5 stars A genial read for the casually interested
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2019
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An enjoyable read - nothing profound or particularly new. Well-written and entertaining. It is an odd angle to press 21st century attitudes and assumptions so strenuously on 200 years ago and try to see things backwards through a telescope, as it were. A few times it leads to strange tangents - the subsequent (and terrible) fate of North American Indians isn't pertinent to the War of 1812, though it was an outcome partly, this is billed as a snapshot of Regency England.

A small point: surely the author knows that "elite" is an adjective, not a noun, as he repeatedly uses it. It is very jarring. Is it a small matter of a very modern faddish locution slipping into standard written English? Or is it a sign that the author is intent on forcing 21st century values and opinions on another people in another place and another age? If so, that is not an historian's place, it is his fatal error.
35 people found this helpful
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Paul Lloyd
5.0 out of 5 stars quick delivery
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2023
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Book like new.
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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Why the Regency period is special
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 3, 2021
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Great read and reference source for the Regency period.
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usuario
2.0 out of 5 stars Opinionated and shallow
Reviewed in Spain on March 29, 2021
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A pele-mele of facts, lots of trivia and little depth. Further, the author insists on teaching the reader, voice of god fashion, who are the good guys and, particularly, who are the bad guys, even in the 21st century! (technological companies). Georgette Heyer's Regency World by Jennifer Kloester is far more instructive.
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James Good
5.0 out of 5 stars Readable Overview of the Recency Decade
Reviewed in Canada on August 5, 2019
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If you already have an interest on the period from 1810 to 1820, the book pulls together many aspects of the times. If you don't, the book gives you reasons why you should. It is a pleasant and easy read, and you will probably find out you already you know more about the Regency than you thought you did..
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Vlad Thelad
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, transformative, and contradictory times
Reviewed in Canada on August 16, 2019
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It was the subtitle of the book “The Regency Years: During Which Jane Austen Writes, Napoleon Fights, Byron Makes Love, and Britain Becomes Modern” what first captured my attention. It is witty, and speaks of an ambitious scope for a history book circumscribed to one decade. Morrison’s book fulfils the expectations it creates, and does so by painting a broad yet very detailed picture of an undoubtedly interesting, transformative and contradictory time. However, arguing how, and why, any given period in history would be the most important and transcendent of all, seems self-serving or rather contrived once a historian has chosen to focus on it. Overall, this is a very good read, and it is easily accessible beyond the history buffs crowd, for those that will not raise an eyebrow at some of the author’s claims.
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Martyn S.
4.0 out of 5 stars A valuable read if you wanrt tro know about the Regency
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 27, 2020
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A very readable book which tells you almost all you need to know about society in Regency times. Full of valuable information and insights into how all sorts of people in society lived through these important times.
One person found this helpful
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