Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. xii, 304 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color); 24 cm

Summary

1. The Victorians invented mass entertainment. As the nineteenth century's growing industrialized class acquired the funds and the free time to pursue leisure activities, their desires were satiated by determined entrepreneurs building new venues for popular amusement. Contrary to their reputation as dour, buttoned-up prudes, the Victorians reveled in these newly created "palaces of pleasure." In this vivid, captivating book, Lee Jackson charts the rise of well-known institutions such as gin palaces, music halls, seaside resorts and football clubs, as well as the more peculiar thrills of the pleasure-garden and international expo, from parachuting monkeys to human zoos. He explores how vibrant mass entertainment came to dominate leisure time and how the attempts of religious groups and secular improvers to curb "immorality" in the pub, music hall, and dance hall faltered in the face of commercial success. The Victorians' unbounded love of leisure created a nationally significant and influential economic force: the entertainment industry.

Alternative title

1. From music halls to the seaside to football, how the Victorians invented mass entertainment

Subject

1. Amusements
2. Leisure industry
3. Performing arts
4. Great Britain
5. Great Britain > Social life and customs > 19th century
6. Amusements > Great Britain > History > 19th century
7. History
8. Leisure industry > Great Britain > History > 19th century
9. Performing arts > Great Britain > History > 19th century
10. Performing Arts
11. Great Britain > History > Victoria, 1837-1901

Genre/Form

1. History.

Contents

1. Introduction or, Expensive and dangerous amusements -- The gin palace or, The abodes of suicide -- The free-and-easy or, The glorious Apollo -- The music hall or, He slept on the piano -- The dancing-room or, The way of the whirled -- The pleasure garden or, The midnight roysterers -- The exhibition ground or, The city of side-shows -- The seaside or, A triumphal car for Neptune -- The football field or, To brutalise the game -- Conclusion or, The murderer of thought.

Call number

1. JFE 19-9996

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-296) and index.

Author

1. Jackson, Lee, 1971- author.

Title

1. Palaces of pleasure : from music halls to the seaside to football, how the Victorians invented mass entertainment / Lee Jackson.

Publisher

1. New Haven : Yale University Press, [2019]

Copyright date

1. ©2019

Type of content

1. text

Type of medium

1. unmediated

Type of carrier

1. volume

Bibliography

1. Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-296) and index.

LCCN

1. 2018962166

Other standard identifier

1. 40029388260

ISBN

1. 9780300224634
2. 030022463X

Research call number

1. JFE 19-9996