After the Victorians: The Decline of Britain in the World

In 1924, the British Empire Exhibition--"a huge propaganda exercise"--opened in Wembley to celebrate the stability and permanence of the British Empire, which was at its maximum size at that time. Within 25 years, the British would lose their empire and their place in the world, and be reduced to fighting for their economic survival following World War II. After the Victorians covers the years 1901 through 1953, the year of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. In this absorbing work, A.N. Wilson tells the tale of his parents' generation, who witnessed the rapid, bewildering transformation from supreme world power to broken nation within their lifetimes. In doing so, he explores a wide variety of topics, including cultural changes, the population shift from rural to urban areas, the changing role of the aristocracy, imperialism (especially in India), the Asiatic roots of World War I, the rise of the suffragists, and the complex relationship between Britain and the U.S., which Wilson describes as being "like a lot of outwardly successful marriages, an abusive relationship, in which Britain was quite decidedly the junior partner."

After the Victorians is not a formal history. Rather than cover this era chronologically, Wilson shifts in time, moving smoothly from one subject to another, alternating between wide-angle views and extreme close-ups. He offers broad coverage of military, cultural, political, and economic themes, as well as revealing portraits of politicians, monarchs, generals, journalists, economists, painters, poets, and scientists. Filled with sharp observations and vivid anecdotes, this imaginative and crisply written "portrait of an age" successfully conveys the conflicted emotions of British subjects forced to deal with the loss of their once-mighty empire. --Shawn Carkonen