In These Times

December 8, 2014
In a book with many components and little center, British historian Uglow (The Pinecone) sketches what it was like to be in Great Britain in the years of the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars. Her theme, delivered with deft strokes, is how the wars affected “the lives of people in Britain, not those who fought, but those at home looking on, waiting, working, watching.” She’s as comprehensive as possible, covering gentry and working people, farmers and sailors, women and men, war prisoners and bankers. It’s a large canvas, always alive; its subjects—in snippet chapters—are skillfully portrayed. Uglow never intrudes on her large cast of characters, letting their own words and deeds bring them to life. But there is no analysis, point of view, or firm place to stand. It’s a vast portrait of a painful British era, both good history and a diverting story, but Uglow never brings it all together. Illus. Agent: Melanie Jackson Agency (U.K.).

November 1, 2014
A fascinating account of how Britons lived through a generation of war.Despite painful memories of defeat in the United States six years earlier, Britons welcomed the 1789 French Revolution, writes British historian Uglow (A Gambling Man: Charles II's Restoration Game, 2009, etc.). Finally, they believed, France was coming to its senses and becoming like England: a constitutional monarchy with a parliament and liberty. The 1793 guillotining of Louis XVI quickly changed almost everyone's minds. France resumed its role as the traditional enemy but with an overlay similar to the panic in the U.S following 9/11. The Jacobins and, later, Napoleon were considered loathsome yet fiendishly clever, bent on destroying British liberties either through invasion, spies, subversion or simply by encouraging unpatriotic attacks on the government. Yet Britain around 1800 was an imperfect democracy with a tiny electorate ruled by an aristocratic elite with few constitutional guarantees of liberty. Despite this, leaders could not ignore popular opinion and a pugnacious press, and even poor Britons considered themselves the world's freest people; slavery, Uglow reminds readers, was illegal on the island. Despite high taxes, painful shortages, hunger and oppressive censorship, they endured for 22 years, but they did not suffer in silence. Immortals (Jane Austen, Byron, Wordsworth, Pitt, Wellington) have their say, but mostly Uglow delves into the immense archives of letters, journals, books and editorials from a highly opinionated cross section of farmers, shopkeepers, bankers, clergy, seamen, entrepreneurs, journalism and peers. "[The wars] affected everyone, sometimes directly, and sometimes almost without their knowing it," writes the author, "and in the process the underlying structures of British society ground against each other and slowly shifted, like the invisible movement of tectonic plates." A vivid portrait of citizens who gave priority to day-to-day lives but rarely forgot they were engaged in the greatest war in history.

COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 1, 2014

Uglow (The Lunar Men; The Pinecone) turns her attention to British experiences during the Napoleonic Wars. Like much that the author writes, this account is multilayered, encompassing numerous different cultural, economic, geographic, intellectual, and political strata. That variety is at once the book's most significant charm--and perhaps for some, a shadowing weakness. Many historical agents are introduced, but their distinct characters and contexts are not always developed sufficiently for the reader to know them very well. Uglow is adept at populating her narrative with a plethora of fascinating details, but some historians may yearn for more well-placed generalizations, synthesis, and analysis. At its best, the text is rich and engaging; other times it gives the impression of a seemingly disjointed collection of primary source excerpts. Still, the range is impressive and the prose approachable. There are also helpful scholarly apparatus, including a chronology that intertwines military and political events with domestic affairs in Britain from the fall of the Bastille in 1789 to Napoleon's 1821 death. VERDICT Lively reading; recommended to those with an interest in British history during the period under consideration.--Mark Spencer, Brock Univ., St. Catharines, Ont.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2014
Although much has been written about the Napoleonic Wars, few scholars have concentrated their efforts on the home front. Uglow remedies this oversight with a fascinating, in-depth account of everyday life in Britain during this tumultuous era. It becomes increasingly clear that not all the action was occurring on the battlefield, as the author points a critical lens toward the everyday, focusing on cities, towns, villages, farms, and the ordinary and extraordinary citizens at home looking on, waiting, working, watching. Witnessing these times and following the war through the eyes, ears, and experiences of those left behind, readers are treated to a meaty slice of the politics, popular culture, and internal conflicts that defined the time period. Most interesting is the ongoing examination of the varied ways news of the wars reached the people and how they reacted to it. Social history that will also appeal to those wishing to immerse themselves in an era that serves as a colorful backdrop for Regency romances and military fiction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)