Contains essays that address a wide range of subjects, including religion, politics, history, science, art, socialism, and feminism, by eminent figures of the Victorian era. This title reflects what the author terms 'the spirit of the age', one that she characterises as contentious as well as earnest, given to high aspirations and convictions.
By including novels written from a range of political perspectives, Vanden Bossche discovers patterns in Victorian thinking that are easily recognized in today's assumptions about social hierarchy.
