-
The Victorian City
- Everyday Life in Dickens' London
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $29.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Hidden Lives of Tudor Women
- A Social History
- By: Elizabeth Norton
- Narrated by: Jennifer Dixon
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Tudor period conjures up images of queens and noblewomen in elaborate court dress, of palace intrigue and dramatic politics. But if you were a woman, it was also a time when death during childbirth was rife, when marriage was usually a legal contract, not a matter for love, and the education you could hope to receive was minimal at best. Yet the Tudor century was also dominated by powerful and dynamic women in a way that no era had been before.
-
-
Scattered
- By brooke stanton on 08-29-18
By: Elizabeth Norton
-
The Time Traveler's Guide to Regency Britain
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Ian Mortimer
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the latest volume of his celebrated series of Time Traveler's Guides, Ian Mortimer turns to what is arguably the most-loved period in British history—the Regency, or Georgian England. A time of exuberance, thrills, frills, and unchecked bad behavior, it was perhaps the last age of true freedom before the arrival of the stifling world of Victorian morality. At the same time, it was a period of transition. Conveying the sights, sounds, and smells of the Regency period, this is history at its most exciting—the past not as something to be studied, but as lived experience.
-
-
Ian Mortimer does it again
- By Phoebe A. on 08-08-22
By: Ian Mortimer
-
The Time Traveler’s Guide to Restoration Britain
- A Handbook for Visitors to the Seventeenth Century: 1660-1699
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 20 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine you could see the smiles of the people mentioned in Samuel Pepys' diary, hear the shouts of market traders, and touch their wares. How would you find your way around? Where would you stay? What would you wear? Where might you be suspected of witchcraft? Where would you be welcome? This is an up-close-and-personal look at Britain between the Restoration of King Charles II in 1660 and the end of the century.
-
-
Not like the others in this series.
- By B Rose on 02-21-18
By: Ian Mortimer
-
The British in India
- A Social History of the Raj
- By: David Gilmour
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 23 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Full of illuminating anecdotes drawn from memoirs, correspondence, and government documents, The British in India weaves a rich tapestry of the everyday experiences of the Britons who found themselves in “the jewel in the crown” of the British Empire. David Gilmour captures the substance and texture of their work, home, and social lives, and illustrates how these transformed across the several centuries of British presence and rule in the subcontinent, from the East India Company’s first trading station in 1615 to the twilight of the Raj and Partition and Independence in 1947.
-
-
Superb. Loved every beautifully read minute!
- By Rosemary on 01-31-19
By: David Gilmour
-
The Domestic Revolution
- How the Introduction of Coal into Victorian Homes Changed Everything
- By: Ruth Goodman
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No single invention epitomizes the Victorian era more than the black cast-iron range. Aware that the 21st-century has reduced it to a quaint relic, Ruth Goodman was determined to prove that the hot coal stove provided so much more than morning tea: It might even have kick-started the Industrial Revolution. Wielding the wit and passion seen in How to Be a Victorian, Goodman traces the tectonic shift from wood to coal in the mid-16th century - from sooty trials and errors during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I to the totally smog-clouded reign of Queen Victoria.
-
-
Zombie Apocalypse
- By PeachPecan on 12-25-20
By: Ruth Goodman
-
If Walls Could Talk
- An Intimate History of the Home
- By: Lucy Worsley
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why did the flushing toilet take two centuries to catch on? Why did medieval people sleep sitting up? When were the two "dirty centuries?" Why did gas lighting cause Victorian ladies to faint? Why, for centuries, did rich people fear fruit?In her brilliantly and creatively researched book, Lucy Worsley takes us through the bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen.
-
-
Compelling.
- By Kirsten on 06-05-12
By: Lucy Worsley
-
The Hidden Lives of Tudor Women
- A Social History
- By: Elizabeth Norton
- Narrated by: Jennifer Dixon
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Tudor period conjures up images of queens and noblewomen in elaborate court dress, of palace intrigue and dramatic politics. But if you were a woman, it was also a time when death during childbirth was rife, when marriage was usually a legal contract, not a matter for love, and the education you could hope to receive was minimal at best. Yet the Tudor century was also dominated by powerful and dynamic women in a way that no era had been before.
-
-
Scattered
- By brooke stanton on 08-29-18
By: Elizabeth Norton
-
The Time Traveler's Guide to Regency Britain
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Ian Mortimer
- Length: 17 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the latest volume of his celebrated series of Time Traveler's Guides, Ian Mortimer turns to what is arguably the most-loved period in British history—the Regency, or Georgian England. A time of exuberance, thrills, frills, and unchecked bad behavior, it was perhaps the last age of true freedom before the arrival of the stifling world of Victorian morality. At the same time, it was a period of transition. Conveying the sights, sounds, and smells of the Regency period, this is history at its most exciting—the past not as something to be studied, but as lived experience.
-
-
Ian Mortimer does it again
- By Phoebe A. on 08-08-22
By: Ian Mortimer
-
The Time Traveler’s Guide to Restoration Britain
- A Handbook for Visitors to the Seventeenth Century: 1660-1699
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 20 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Imagine you could see the smiles of the people mentioned in Samuel Pepys' diary, hear the shouts of market traders, and touch their wares. How would you find your way around? Where would you stay? What would you wear? Where might you be suspected of witchcraft? Where would you be welcome? This is an up-close-and-personal look at Britain between the Restoration of King Charles II in 1660 and the end of the century.
-
-
Not like the others in this series.
- By B Rose on 02-21-18
By: Ian Mortimer
-
The British in India
- A Social History of the Raj
- By: David Gilmour
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 23 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Full of illuminating anecdotes drawn from memoirs, correspondence, and government documents, The British in India weaves a rich tapestry of the everyday experiences of the Britons who found themselves in “the jewel in the crown” of the British Empire. David Gilmour captures the substance and texture of their work, home, and social lives, and illustrates how these transformed across the several centuries of British presence and rule in the subcontinent, from the East India Company’s first trading station in 1615 to the twilight of the Raj and Partition and Independence in 1947.
-
-
Superb. Loved every beautifully read minute!
- By Rosemary on 01-31-19
By: David Gilmour
-
The Domestic Revolution
- How the Introduction of Coal into Victorian Homes Changed Everything
- By: Ruth Goodman
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
No single invention epitomizes the Victorian era more than the black cast-iron range. Aware that the 21st-century has reduced it to a quaint relic, Ruth Goodman was determined to prove that the hot coal stove provided so much more than morning tea: It might even have kick-started the Industrial Revolution. Wielding the wit and passion seen in How to Be a Victorian, Goodman traces the tectonic shift from wood to coal in the mid-16th century - from sooty trials and errors during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I to the totally smog-clouded reign of Queen Victoria.
-
-
Zombie Apocalypse
- By PeachPecan on 12-25-20
By: Ruth Goodman
-
If Walls Could Talk
- An Intimate History of the Home
- By: Lucy Worsley
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why did the flushing toilet take two centuries to catch on? Why did medieval people sleep sitting up? When were the two "dirty centuries?" Why did gas lighting cause Victorian ladies to faint? Why, for centuries, did rich people fear fruit?In her brilliantly and creatively researched book, Lucy Worsley takes us through the bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen.
-
-
Compelling.
- By Kirsten on 06-05-12
By: Lucy Worsley
-
A Brief History of Life in Victorian Britain
- By: Michael Paterson
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Victorian era has dominated the popular imagination like no other period, but these myths and stories also give a very distorted view of the 19th century. The early Victorians were much stranger than we usually imagine, and their world would have felt very different from our own. It was only during the long reign of the Queen that a modern society emerged in unexpected ways.
-
-
Brief, But Insightful
- By Troy on 07-17-13
By: Michael Paterson
-
Victorian London
- The Life of a City, 1840-1870
- By: Liza Picard
- Narrated by: Anton Lesser
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Like her previous books, this book will be the result of the author's passionate interest in the realities of everyday life, and the conditions in which most people lived, so often left out of history books. This period of mid-Victorian London encompasses a huge range of subjects.
-
-
Why abridged?
- By RC on 04-21-19
By: Liza Picard
-
How the Scots Invented the Modern World
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: Robert Ian Mackenzie
- Length: 18 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Who formed the first literate society? Who invented our modern ideas of democracy and free market capitalism? The Scots. As historian and author Arthur Herman reveals, in the 18th and 19th centuries Scotland made crucial contributions to science, philosophy, literature, education, medicine, commerce, and politics - contributions that have formed and nurtured the modern West ever since. This book is not just about Scotland: it is an exciting account of the origins of the modern world.
-
-
Eagerly Awaited Audiobook
- By Lulu on 09-01-16
By: Arthur Herman
-
The Fires of Vesuvius
- Pompeii Lost and Found
- By: Mary Beard
- Narrated by: Phyllida Nash
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Destroyed by Vesuvius in 79 CE, the ruins of Pompeii offer the best evidence we have of life in the Roman Empire. But the eruptions are only part of the story. In The Fires of Vesuvius, acclaimed historian Mary Beard makes sense of the remains. She explores what kind of town it was - more like Calcutta or the Costa del Sol? - and what it can tell us about "ordinary" life there. From sex to politics, food to religion, slavery to literacy, Beard offers us the big picture even as she takes us close enough to the past to smell the bad breath....
-
-
Delightful Description of Life in Ancient Pompeii
- By Emily on 08-27-19
By: Mary Beard
-
The Courtiers
- Splendor and Intrigue in the Georgian Court at Kensington Palace
- By: Lucy Worsley
- Narrated by: Heather Wilds
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kensington Palace is now most famous as the former home of Diana, Princess of Wales, but the palace's glory days came between 1714 and 1760, during the reigns of George I and II. In the 18th century, this palace was a world of skullduggery, intrigue, politicking, etiquette, wigs, and beauty spots, where fans whistled open like switchblades and unusual people were kept as curiosities. Lucy Worsley's The Courtiers charts the trajectory of the fantastically quarrelsome Hanovers and the last great gasp of British court life.
-
-
Lucy worsley rocks, deserves a better narrator
- By Interregnum Rex on 03-03-17
By: Lucy Worsley
-
The Bright Ages
- A New History of Medieval Europe
- By: Matthew Gabriele, David M. Perry
- Narrated by: Jim Meskimen
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The word medieval conjures images of the “Dark Ages”. But the myth of darkness obscures the truth; this was a remarkable period in human history. The Bright Ages recasts the European Middle Ages for what it was, capturing this 1,000-year era in all its complexity and fundamental humanity, bringing to light both its beauty and its horrors. The Bright Ages takes us through 10 centuries and crisscrosses Europe and the Mediterranean, Asia, and Africa, revisiting familiar people and events with new light cast upon them.
-
-
Does exactly what it claims to clarify
- By Aaron Rapozo on 12-13-21
By: Matthew Gabriele, and others
-
How to Be a Tudor
- A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Tudor Life
- By: Ruth Goodman
- Narrated by: Heather Wilds
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the heels of her triumphant How to Be a Victorian, Ruth Goodman travels even further back in English history to the era closest to her heart, the dramatic period from the crowning of Henry VII to the death of Elizabeth I. Drawing on her own adventures living in re-created Tudor conditions, Goodman serves as our intrepid guide to 16th-century living. Proceeding from daybreak to bedtime, this charming, illustrative work celebrates the ordinary lives of those who labored through the era.
-
-
I almost wish Ruth had narrated
- By lisa on 08-29-18
By: Ruth Goodman
-
The Secret Knowledge of Water
- There Are Two Easy Ways to Die in the Desert: Thirst and Drowning
- By: Craig Childs
- Narrated by: Craig Childs
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Deserts are environments that can be inhospitable even to seasoned explorers. Craig Childs has spent years in the deserts of the American West, and his treks through arid lands in search of water reveal the natural world at its most extreme.
-
-
This book is fantastic
- By Jamesdcawley on 04-09-20
By: Craig Childs
-
The Devil in the White City
- Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
- By: Erik Larson
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The true tale of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and the cunning serial killer who used the magic and majesty of the fair to lure his victims to their death.
-
-
Impossible to stop listening
- By Michael on 05-26-12
By: Erik Larson
-
London in the Nineteenth Century
- By: Jerry White
- Narrated by: Neil Gardner
- Length: 21 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jerry White's London in the Nineteenth Century is the richest and most absorbing account of the city's greatest century by its leading expert. London in the nineteenth century was the greatest city mankind had ever seen. Its growth was stupendous. Its wealth was dazzling. Its horrors shocked the world. This was the London of Blake, Thackeray and Mayhew, of Nash, Faraday and Disraeli. Most of all it was the London of Dickens. As William Blake put it, London was 'a Human awful wonder of God'.
-
-
Very technical
- By Phatgirl1971 on 09-21-21
By: Jerry White
-
Metropolis
- A History of the City, Humankind's Greatest Invention
- By: Ben Wilson
- Narrated by: John Sackville
- Length: 17 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a captivating tour of cities famous and forgotten, acclaimed historian Ben Wilson tells the glorious, millennia-spanning story how urban living sparked humankind's greatest innovations.
-
-
Sorry that I can’t rate it higher
- By BCM on 12-28-20
By: Ben Wilson
-
Last Breath
- The Limits of Adventure
- By: Peter Stark
- Narrated by: Peter Stark
- Length: 6 hrs
- Highlights
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stark narrates a series of outdoor adventure stories in which thrill can cross the line into mortal peril. Each death or brush with death is at once a suspense story, a cautionary tale, and a medical thriller. He describes what goes through the mind of a cross-country skier as his body temperature plummets - apathy at 91 degrees, stupor at 90 - and explores the physiology of a snowboarder trying not to panic as he consumes the tiny pocket of air trapped around his face under thousands of pounds of snow.
-
-
Marvelously well told physiological tales
- By Terry Austin on 01-28-03
By: Peter Stark
Publisher's Summary
The 19th century was a time of unprecedented change, and nowhere was this more apparent than London. In only a few decades, the capital grew from a compact Regency town into a sprawling metropolis of six-and-a-half million inhabitants, the largest city the world had ever seen. Technology - railways, street-lighting, and sewers - transformed both the city and the experience of city living, as London expanded in every direction.
Now, Judith Flanders, one of Britain's foremost social historians, explores the world portrayed so vividly in Dickens' novels, showing life on the streets of London in colorful, fascinating detail. From the moment Charles Dickens, the century's best-loved English novelist and London's greatest observer, arrived in the city in 1822, he obsessively walked its streets, recording its pleasures, curiosities, and cruelties.
Now, with him, Flanders leads us through the markets, transport systems, sewers, rivers, slums, alleys, cemeteries, gin palaces, chop-houses, and entertainment emporia of Dickens' London, to reveal the Victorian capital in all its variety, vibrancy, and squalor.
Critic Reviews
More from the same
What listeners say about The Victorian City
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ladyethyme
- 04-17-21
Endless Lists
While a decent amount of information, it would probably be more efficient to just buy a book of lists. This book has endless, boring lists, which could’ve been summed up in a simple example =|
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Count B
- 02-04-18
UNFORTUNATLY DISAPPOINTED, IS NOT INTERESTING
I love the Victorian Era, I collect Strand Magazines from that era, and hence was straining at the leash to get started on this book, but soon I was let down. It is list upon list.
For instance, the railway stations that were built at the time. One gets list of railway stations, how big they were, how long they took to build, problems encountered with building them, the financial costs etc, and so it goes on. Then we have list of roads, list of the most common crimes, each chapter sprinkled with text from a Charles Dickens novel. What is missing is the people. It really was so disappointing that the author had not populated the book with Victorians and their lives, more just what was Victorian London. It makes the book very sterile.
Like that teacher at school who takes a great subject and just makes it weary to listen to. Every chapter is loaded with rather uninteresting data, each finds one not being emotional attached or feeling as though one is there. Such a shame.
34 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Likes Books A Lot
- 06-11-19
Time machine
Sweeps one back in time and place. So much walking, so much air pollution. Very well written and performed.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- J. Gunderssen
- 05-17-21
Amazingly Detailed Look at the Dickensian Era!
I'm a history buff in general, but I particularly enjoy details of everyday life from a historical period - what it was like to get dressed, commute to work, grab a meal on the way, go enjoy yourself on the town, etc. This book is chock full of fascinating minutia like that.
After listening to this, I think I'm prepared to re-read some of my old favorites from Dickens and probably get a deeper understanding of the narrative.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Charles Caldwell
- 06-04-20
A interesting take on 1800s london.
I purchased this book on a whim and loved every minute of it. The author balances the light and dark aspects of life well, and the reader's voice and style keep you entertained as if being ready a classic story. highly recommend.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rocco
- 03-24-20
Wonderful book
Submerges reader into the streets and life of victorian London. Best book I have listened to on the subject and the narrator was perfect. I would highly recommend this audio book.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Shiloah Baker
- 12-20-19
Excellent!
Phenomenal work! If you read Victorian novelists, especially Dickens, or if you have an interest in Victorian history, this book is an absolute must-read!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 04-12-22
Understand what it is.
This isn’t a story. It’s an incredible exploration of what life was like in 1800s London. It goes into income, living situations, work life, cooking, how the roads were paved, transportation, and on and on. Don’t expect a story and you’ll have a great time.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Landlocked
- 12-21-20
Great listen for Dicken's Fans
The narration was excellent. The detail provided was exactly what I wanted. I can tell this will be one of those I will listen to again. I thoroughly enjoyed it!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sarah Irene
- 09-14-19
Very informative
This book gave a thorough, vivid sense of London streets in the mid-1800s. It would be perfect for someone doing research to write historical fiction.