Review by Booklist Review
Displaying an impressive range and depth of knowledge as well as a writerly instinct for dramatic presentation, Mortimer continues his you-are-there approach to English history, following previous British bestsellers in this series, including The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England (2012). Here he covers the Restoration era, which he defines as the years from 1660 to 1700, four decades during which the monarchy was restored in the person of King Charles II, son of the deposed and beheaded Charles I, in the wake of the civil war of the 1640s. Other institutions also reclaimed traditional roles, but all were gearing up in light of new, rapidly unfolding social and scientific developments. Mortimer deeply immerses the reader in this world, imparting an amazing first-hand feel for what living in the era was like, from health and hygiene to what people wore, how they traveled, what they did for entertainment, units of measurement, taxes, and how and where people shopped. This is a sure bet for history lovers and readers with a penchant for unusual travelogues.--Hooper, Brad Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Mortimer (The Time Traveler's Guide to Elizabethan England) writes as though he has traveled to Restoration Britain himself. With his vivid descriptions of life in the late 1600s, we glimpse hints of the modern age. Yellow cabs and the beginnings of modern transportation and postal systems appear in this time period. The latter half of the 17th century also brings the birth of the insurance industry, banking, and the scientific age. The end to witchcraft trials and the beginning of less strict adherence to religion indicate more change on the horizon. Relying heavily on The Diary of Samuel Pepys and other primary sources, Mortimer builds the world for readers. Narrator Roger Clark infuses just the right touch of dry humor into the author's words. VERDICT Recommended for Anglophiles, historians, and those fascinated with how the world got from there to here. ["An accessible book, entertaining and learned, for professional historians and general readers alike": LJ 4/1/17 review of the Pegasus hc.]-Cheryl Youse, Norman Park, GA © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The latest guidebook to England's past from the renowned historian.Social historian Mortimer (Human Race: Ten Centuries of Change on Earth, 2015, etc.) is on to a good thing. His previous, similarly structured books, The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England (2009) and The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England (2013), charmed readers, and this latest will do the same. As usual, great men and events make only a fleeting appearance because the author is more concerned with everyday lives: in this case, the lives of Britons of all classes between 1660 and 1700. London aside, demographics were dismal. Britain's population rose steadily from the 1400s until the present day, except during the Restoration, when it declined. Europe was passing through the Little Ice Age; crops often failed, and food prices rose. Britain endured its last famine in the 1690s. All historians stress that their era brought revolutionary changes, and Mortimer is no exception. England executed its last witch in 1685, and Isaac Newton's Principia, the book marking the dawn of the scientific age, appeared in 1687. Innovations of the time included insurance, journalism, statistics, and modern (as opposed to merchant) banking. Personal checks also made their first appearance. Aware that historical dietary and hygienic habits retain a special fascination, Mortimer does not disappoint. The healthiest food remained meat. Privies were a low priority; a chronic complaint from great houses and even royal palaces was people "leaving their excrements in every corner, in chimneys, studies, coal houses, cellars." In the century since the author's Elizabethan Guide, London's population had quadrupled to over 400,000, but there were still no sewers or running water. Garbage removal remained in the hands of private entrepreneurs, although a heavy rain worked better. Readers will finish this third in a delightful series of bottom-up histories hoping Mortimer has his sights set on Georgian England. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
