UPROAR!: Satire, Scandal and Printmakers in Georgian London

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While Loxton's Uproar has an interesting premise I couldn't get past the childish prose that permeated the entire book. The specific piece on the front, “Plum Pudding” sits outside my office door, on a wall draped in other Edwardian period pieces.

But no: as Loxton says, the Victorians did a good job of stamping out their memory (as an aside, Loxton did a great job of depicting the differences between Georgian London-opulent, unserious [even when things were very much serious], light, funny, and indulgent - and Victorian London: dark, dingy, chaste, hypocritical, and serious). There are enough footnotes to satisfy the most fastidious historian, drawing upon primary and secondary sources; a comprehensive bibliography; and lots of illustrations. Having never grasped why Blake as an artist is so lionised I share Loxton's view that Gilray and Rowlandson are equally worthy of aclaim (and are also much more entertaining).I’ve presented many history documentaries, been interviewed as a talking head, and appeared on live international broadcasts. Once more, It was reviewed in The Times , The New Statesman , TLS , LRB , The Spectator, BBC History Magazine, Country Life and The Mail on Sunday. Easily one of the most influential science-fiction novels of all time, this 1921 masterpiece inspired George Orwell’s 1984and became the first book ever banned by the Soviet Union.

While it may be forgivable for a book to be unserious if it is at least entertaining, this book was neither. My writing has featured in The Telegraph, The Times, The Spectator, Tatler, The Critic, Country Life Magazine and BBC Music Magazine. She has an engaging writing style and makes a subject I probably would normally shy away from enjoyable. The look is undoubtedly written in a brisk style and does use the domestic lives of its subjects to carry the narrative forward. Stomp around this Jurassic adventure with the lights on full and the music and sound effects all turned down low.Alice Loxton has given us an insightful, witty and marvelous history of Georgian Britain never seen before. If, like me, you have initial reservations about the very modern prose style that mentions Rowlandson’s aunt giving him “dollops of TLC”, don’t worry. I honestly cannot say enough about this book, one of the best historical reads I’ve ever had the pleasure of owning. It all kicked off with a packed out launch at Daunt Books in Marylebone - with William Pitt in attendance!

Vivid, pacey and endlessly engaging, this brilliant debut brings the late Georgian period dazzlingly to life.

I also wrote a piece which was printed in The Telegraph , and appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Loose Ends and twice on Times Radio . Alice Loxton is a 27-year-old historian and the lead female presenter at History Hit TV, where she regularly co-presents documentaries with Dan Snow. A gripping, energetic and easy to follow deep dive into the raucous satire revolution of late Georgian Britain. There was war, Napoleonic and American Independence, Royal scandal: the madness of King George III and the outrageous behaviour of the Prince Regent and political drama. Understanding the commercial aspects of the print world, with rival printmakers racing to be the first to issue prints commenting on current news stories; the scandals (and why they were scandals); and the political leanings of the various players, makes this book the best commentary upon those times that I’ve read.

These were the seeds for the likes of Private Eye and Spitting Images and they remain as fresh and vibrant some three hundred years on as they were at the time. Set against a backdrop of royal madness, political intrigue, the birth of modern celebrity, French revolution, American independence and the Napoleonic Wars, UPROAR! Written in a very distinctive, informal but enjoyable voice, Uproar tells the story of the men (and excitingly a few women) behind the fantastical and satirical drawings of Georgian and Regency England.As a result, there were places where I found myself a little annoyed about the choices the author had made and that definitely lessened my enjoyment of the book overall. It’s far better than you might be led to expect from that introduction, even though a later footnote includes “Ten points to Gryffindor”. P. Lovecraft, this 1919 pulp classic explored a nightmarish alternative reality where America’s ruling class forces the poor to compete in deadly games. Loxton does an excellent job of showing us the rivalry between the artists and the printmakers to depict the truly exciting political and court world of the late 1700s and early 1800s.