How to Be a Victorian
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Average rating4.3
TRAVEL BACK IN TIME WITH THE BBC'S RUTH GOODMAN We know what life was like for Victoria and Albert. But what was it like for a commoner - like you or me? How did it feel to cook with coal and wash with tea leaves? Drink beer for breakfast and clean your teeth with cuttlefish? Catch the omnibus to work and do the laundry in your corset? How to be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman is a radical new approach to history; a journey back in time more personal than anything before. Moving through the rhythm of the day, this astonishing guide illuminates the overlapping worlds of health, sex, fashion, food, school, work and play. Surviving everyday life came down to the gritty details, the small necessities and tricks of living and Ruth will show you how. If you liked A Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England or 1000 Years of Annoying the French, you will love this book. ______________________ 'Goodman skilfully creates a portrait of daily Victorian life with accessible, compelling, and deeply sensory prose' Erin Entrada Kelly 'We're lucky to have such a knowledgeable cicerone as Ruth Goodman . . . Revelatory' Alexandra Kimball 'Goodman's research is impeccable . . . taking the reader through an average day and presenting the oddities of life without condescension' Patricia Hagen
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Series
2 primary booksHow to Be
How to Be is a 2-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2013 with contributions by Ruth Goodman and TJ Klune.
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Despite how long it took me to finish, I did love this book. There was just so much information I tended to get a bit bogged down. What a great book though.
In How To Be A Victorian “domestic historian” Ruth Goodman adopts a innovative approach to history. A journey back in time more intimate, personal and physical than anything before. It is one told from the inside out. How our ancestors interacted with the practicalities of their world. Along with a history of things that make up the mundane reality of life. Items so small that people scarcely mention them in their diaries or letters. As such we get a fascinating explanation of what life was like for the Victorians. Starting from when they rose in the morning until they went to bed at night. There are chapters on getting dressed, using the toilet, personal grooming, exercise, meals, school, work, and even sex.
Goodman has participated in many re-enactment-of-history series that have gained her celebrity status. Shows with names like “Victorian Pharmacy” and “Tudor Monastery Farm.” Here Ruth devoted months working, dressing, eating, bathing like her ancestors. She is, she says, interested not in royalty and politicians but in the ordinary Victorian.
This is an engaging account of how the Victorian era changed who we are. And how the influence still affects us now, in the present day.
