Very good introductory course

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I'd recommend this course to anyone who wants a broad overview of Victorian England. Prof. Allitt covers a LOT of topics, but none in very much depth. It's a great jumping off point to do further reading (listening). It's particularly useful that he quotes liberally from contemporary writers to give a sense of the culture. I wish a bibliography were included, though.

Who was your favorite character and why?

My favorite lectures were on Gladstone and Disraeli. Prof. Allitt draws nuanced distinctions between them and we can see both sides of contemporary politics. While he describes the eccentricities as well as the accomplishments of both men, the portrayals don't veer toward caricature. Actually none of the people whom Allitt describes do--he seems to like the men and women he talks about and is sympathetic rather than condescending to their foibles.

What about Professor Patrick N. Allitt’s performance did you like?

I loved his teaching style. He's clear, not too redundant, and has a wonderful sense of humor about the material. His accent is engaging. All around, a terrific teacher.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, but the topics fascinated me.

Any additional comments?

On a personal note, I appreciated Prof. Allitt's attention to Victorian religion. This is a topic that is often absent from historical overviews. He's thorough and even handed.

22 people found this helpful

I could not stop listening

I don't know if it was an attraction to the subject matter but I enjoyed these lectures so much that I listened to each lecture twice. I found Professor Allitt to be charming and adding just the right context to each fact.

8 people found this helpful

36 fascinating lectures - it's true!

Just a brilliant and informative set of lectures.
I've listened to it twice, just because it was so interesting.
Covers a lot of different things in Victorian society, each having a lecture of it's own.
I'd love to have a sequel covering Britain until today by the same lecturer.

7 people found this helpful

A Great Introductory Course on Victorian Britain

Examines well the course and consequence of the Victorian' s social, technological and political climate.

The lecturer does a great job of listing both positive and negative aspects of the culture and its actions within the context of its operation. He neither sweeps the less savory things under the rug nor apologizes for them but presents both sides of the era as they were. He also shows how those views lead into and shape modern policy of the country and those under the former empire. It's a great starting reference that can easily lead into further reading and its well-thought-out format facilitates that wonderfully.

It is, in the end, slightly biased towards England. but not distracting so and certain not smoothing over a lot of the unpleasant ideas of the age.

6 people found this helpful

We shouldn’t be too judgmental too quickly

That thought from Professor Allitt’s last lecture sums up the tenor of the previous thirty-five. Whether he’s dealing with Victorian literature, servants, poverty, industry, religion, music, politics, agriculture, reform, architecture, imperialism, leisure, or any of the myriad subjects covered in this course, he practices, “an imaginative engagement with people whose ideas were different from our own”.

That means that, rather than sneering at the Victorians for, say, their peculiar snobberies, he urges us to, “remember that we’re all snobbish about certain things as well”. Rather than laugh at them, the good professor laughs with them, from zingers delivered in the Commons to cartoons printed in Punch. Even the Oxford Movement gets objective treatment. If we encounter views we abhor, Allitt suggests, “the discipline for us is to say, well, let’s see how they were thinking about it”. Unlike so much modern academic historiography, no axes are being ground here, no agendas served.

Allitt himself is always a pleasure to listen to, from the cadence of his delivery to the smile that’s never very far from the surface.

5 people found this helpful

Death by Quotation

This is my third course by Professor Allitt. "History of the United States" did not draw me in but I thought "The Rise and Fall of the British Empire" was wonderfully done. So I suppose this course was going to be the tiebreaker/rubber match in some respects. Unfortunately, it did not deliver according to my expectations.

I think the best way I can sum up my assessment is a comment from another reviewer: this course felt like one long collection of antcedotes. It seemed to be lacking in "teaching" and narrating political history. Instead it was like the professor just wanted to share a number of stories he had collected concerning first hand accounts of very specific individuals vs. providing general information on a topic or event. His summary comments of what these quotes were supposed to illustrate seemed forced or squeezed in at the last minute like they were secondary to what one specific person thought about something and had written.

While I think some of the recitations certainly helped paint the picture of what life was like, the sheer number of them and the time dedicated to the quotations left me wondering if I had purchased a course on "Short Story Accounts of Victorian Britions". It felt like a majority of the lecture times were spent reading someone's quotes and the endless flow caused me to forget what topic was being discussed or what point the professor was trying to illustrate with the quote. I would've preferred more analysis/conclusions/teaching.

Another shortcoming was the way the professor opened and closed lectures. He would start off each lecture by providing a preview of a major historical event or time period that he was going to discuss in more detail later in the lecture. But he wouldn’t frame it as such which resulted in me thinking that was the one and only time he’d describe something and I was left wondering why he didn’t provide more meat to the event and why he was moving to the next item so fast. If he would’ve explained it was a preview and he would get into further detail later in the lecture then some of the relation of the events wouldn’t feel so disjointed. This approach wouldn’t leave any real drama relating to the result of the event to hold your attention (such as which side would win a major battle) so it was like you had all the answers in a minute and all that was left was repeating it by providing details

The professor often concluded his lectures in a somewhat abrupt manner: there wasn’t much summation of the key points of the lecture or a preview of what the next lecture had in store so there were times when the professor would make a point and suddenly there’d be applause to mark the end of the lecture without any warning that it was winding down! I understand 30 minutes is short and less time on summation means more can be squeezed in but how long does it take for one to mention "in summary..." or "in conclusion..."? 30 seconds? Small price to pay to avoid those abrupt endings/annoying applause at weird times.

There were highlights: lectures 1-5, 12, 15-19, 29, 31, and 35. Specifically I thought his analysis on British attitudes towards the American Civil War was excellently done and well worth my time.

My goal going in was to get a sense of the political history of this period, what everyday society was like, how the nation was transforming, and what factors actually constitute "Victorian Britain" (i.e. what makes it different from other periods). While I think most of those goals were met (a little less on the last one), the way we got here was not what I'd expected at all. But every professor has their own style and this one may resonate with you. For my money though if you are looking for information on this time period I would recommend Professor Allitt's other course: "The Rise and Fall of the British Empire" and "Foundations of Western Civilization II - A History of the Modern Western World" by Professor Robert Bucholz.

5 people found this helpful

Professor Allitt is the best of the best!

As a fellow historian, I greatly admire his knowledge and skill. I have greatly enjoyed every course he has done.

4 people found this helpful

Great Courses would be great even without its ads

What made the experience of listening to Victorian Britain the most enjoyable?

It is just utterly fantastic- a very comprehensive overview, lectured in a way that will hold your attention.

Have you listened to any of Professor Patrick N. Allitt’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

The scholar does a brilliant job. It is very different to have a matter taught by the original, rather than just having it read to you by a "narrator".

Any additional comments?

(Is that the place for the actual review?) Great Courses, why do you do such dishonour to the professors by riddling the audio with annoying music samples and completely superfluous information and advertisements, read in an arty- nasal voice? Someone who is listening to audio courses usually has limited time to his hands and can very well skip this.

9 people found this helpful

Charming, funny, clearly presented

This is one of my all-time favorite selections from Audible, and definitely one of the best history Great Courses. Prof. Allitt has a wonderfully funny and sympathetic view of the characters and issues of the Victorian era, and gives a balanced interpretation with plenty of primary sources. While I learned a lot, it was so flat out enjoyable that I'm sure I will return for another listen too. He has a charming speaking voice and has planned these lectures well. By nature, this is an overview but there is still sufficient detail to have a real feeling for the issues and personalities of the time. Allitt also does a good job of reminding us of the ways in which their time differed from ours, and why we can't apply contemporary standards to the people he covers - yet is not an apologist for some of the less appealing aspects of the era.

Highly, highly recommended if you love history.

2 people found this helpful

Great Professor, Interesting Lectures

In case you couldn't tell by the title, this is a very specialized subject. This course basically covers Britain in the 1800s, which Queen Victoria ruled for most of the century. The professor does a good job of blending chronological history with topical history. What I mean by this is that the professor provides a good chronology and teaches the course generally in chronological order. However, he has special lectures from time-to-time on topical issues, such as the life of upper class women, lower class women, and servants. If I have one complaint, and it is a minor one, it is that I listened to this course shortly after listening to the professor's course on The Rise and Fall of the British Empire. There is consequently some overlap between the courses, so I wish I had spaced them out a little more than I did. However, the professor does a good job of minimizing the overlap and providing different perspectives.

2 people found this helpful