THE AGE OF DECADENCE: BRITAIN 1880 TO 1914
Book ID/图书代码： 06495016B90123
English Summary/英文概要： It focuses on the years before the Great War; years in which folk memory would have it that Britain was a powerful, contented, orderly and thriving country whose vast empire serenely commanded half the world. The mood of pride and self-confidence is familiar from Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance and the newsreels of George V’s coronation.
Yet things were very different below the surface. In his rigorously researched new book, Heffer exposes the contradictions of late Victorian and Edwardian Britain. From the mismanaged war against the Boers, which created profound doubts about the nation’s imperial destiny, to the worst industrial unrest in British history, from the struggles of the suffragette movement to the threat of civil war in Ireland.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 本书侧重于第一次世界大战之前的岁月。那段岁月里，在民众的记忆中，英国是一个强大、富足、有序、繁荣的国家，其庞大帝国统治着近半个世界。这种自豪感和自信心可以从埃尔加的《威风凛凛进行曲》和乔治五世的加冕纪录片中体会到。
然而，实情却并非表面上那样。在这本研究严谨的新书中，作者揭示了维多利亚和爱德华时代后期英国的各种矛盾：从混乱的布尔人反抗战争到英国历史上最严重的工人骚乱，从妇女参政运动的抗争到爱尔兰内战的威胁……(LYR)
Awards/获奖情况：Simon Heffer’s The Age of Decadence is published today. We have had some great reviews from The Literary Review, Spectator and New Statesman with lots more to come…
BBC Radio 3: Free Thinking– interview on 26th September
BBC History Magazine- book podcast
The Spectator podcast- book podcast to air 21st Sept
Mail on Sunday- review(circ. 1,232,789)
With lots more to come…
The Telegraph- review by Vernon Bogdanor(circ. 477,927)
The Sunday Times- review(Circ. 765,884)
The Daily Express- review by Leo Mckinstry
(Circ. 381,467)
The Times: review(Circ. 458,381)
The Lady - review(Circ. 26,469)
New Statesman - review by Jad Adams(Circ. 34,025)
‘Heffer has given us a magnificent account of a less than magnificent epoch . . . Vital and energetic.’ Jonathan Meades Literary Review
Literary Review- review by Jonathan Meades(Circ. 45,000)
The Spectator- review by John Jolliffe(Circ. 63,613)
The Week: five best books, 14 October(Circ. 206,251)
BBC NEWS- Meet the Author on 7th November
Events:
18/9 Daunt Marleybone High St launch- 57 books sold
21/ 9 Waterstones Kings road
6/10 Henley
8/10 Ilkley
12/10 Isle of Wight
15/10 Thame Lit Fest
11/ 11 Southwold Lit Festival
25/11 Buxton Lit Festival
6/ 2 Oldie Lit Lunch
About the Author/作者介绍： Heffer也分析这样一种民族心理：期待着汽车、骇人新闻和科幻小说，但也通过艺术和手工艺运动、流行怀旧等缅怀过去。
他对伟大的男性和女性（如阿斯奎斯、丘吉尔、潘克赫斯特等）一天生活的生动刻画体现了一种细节丰富的有关巨大力量的全景图，这股巨大的力量因为各种意外和傲慢不得不在一战前的几年内面临致命的挑战。
Heffer also analyses a national psyche that looked forwards to embrace the motor car, the sensationalist press and the science fiction of HG Wells, but also backwards through the Arts and Crafts movement of William Morris, and the popular nostalgia of AE Housman.
His vivid portraits of the great men and women of the day – including Gladstone, Asquith, Churchill and Pankhurst – create a richly detailed panorama of a great power that, through both accident and arrogance, was forced to face potentially fatal challenges in the years leading up to the First World War.
Format:
Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE(到期可授)
Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE
Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：
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