Richard D. Altick (1915–2008)

12/5/22

I enjoyed reading this overview of the Victorian period because it summarized very neatly all of the cultural background that you find in Victorian novels. Altick is a master of sentence structure and he pulls together complex ideas into easily understood synopses.

Wry and smirking Altick does it again. Victorian Studies in Scarlet is a rundown of some of the most notorious crimes of the Victorian Age. Altick is a pleasure to read. He often gives the impression the reader is being let in on a little secret. Skip the chapters on yellow journalism and the Victorian mind, unless you want enlightening about the origin of the term ‘penny dreadful’ and theories on their role in improving English literacy.

A terrific look at how libraries and periodicals exploded in the nineteenth century. Solid, old-school writing, free of -isms and hand-wringing, and jargon.