Page 95 - All About History - Issue 70-18
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TOP FIVE
BOOKS ON...
THE VICTORIANS
QUEENVICTORIA
Author: Lucy Worsley
Price: £25
Where better to begin
with the Victorians than
with the monarch who
defined them? This new
biography from the
historian and broadcaster Lucy Worsley
explores the sovereign’s life through
24 days that shaped her life. Drawing
on diaries, letters and more, Worsley
humanises a woman who is too often
reduced to symbolic status.
DOMINION
Author: Peter Ackroyd
Price: £25
The fifth instalment in
THE STAIRCASE England series sums up the
the author’s History Of
country’s apex, from victory
at Waterloo in 1815 (yes,
we know, a little before Victoria’s time) to
This gripping docu-series considers the long-term impact of a ruling an empire that spanned a quarter of
17-year-old murder trial on all involved the world by 1901. While some might be
put off by its broad approach, it remains
an excellent intro to the era.
Certificate 18 Director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade Distributor Netflix Released Out now ONEHOTSUMMER
I Peterson was found dead from the crime scene, which along with vivid photos of Author: Rosemary Ashton
also
noted there is
should be
n 2001, Kathleen
grainy, grizzly video
It
Price: £11
blood,
of
the
at
in
Kathleen’s injuries, earns the series its adult only rating.
pool
An account of the Great
The first half of the series makes for edge-of-the-
foot of the stairs
of her
Stink of 1858, when the
home in
Thames sparked a political
Her novelist North Carolina. seat viewing, dealing out roughly one game-changing stench of the sewage-filled
husband,
revelation per episode. This reaches its crescendo with
crisis, might seem like
Michael, said that she had the trial’s verdict. The more recent instalments are
a niche choice. But Rosemary Ashton
fallen, but he was tried for slower and more ponderous. Adopting a naturalistic
argues the year was also a landmark
murder. As intriguing as approach throughout, issues such as what constitutes one for three iconic Victorians – Disraeli,
the case at the heart of this justice and how punishments impact whole families, Dickens and Darwin – and interweaves
true-crime documentary are left for us to discern ourselves. their stories with the cultural history of a
scorching, smelly summer.
is, The Staircase doesn’t However, given his unfettered access and
just twist and turn its way unwillingness to explicitly pick a side, it’s frustrating
through the shocking trial. It also explores the fallout then that de Lestrade chooses to omit certain facts. LIBERTY’SDAWN
–
for all those involved including Michael, his extended While this could have been done for many reasons, not Author: Emma Griffin
family, and even his lawyer over the next decade. least of all time constraints or even pacing, the decision Price: £13
–
No discussion of the
The 13-part series on Netflix includes eight episodes to leave out key evidence of the prosecution’s argument
Victorian age can be
that debuted in 2004, another two released in 2013, and does undermine an otherwise exceptional series. This
complete without
three more shot last year. Watched in one go, it makes is compounded by the fact this evidence becomes a mentioning the Industrial
for an epic saga that confirms Jean-Xavier de Lestrade fulcrum for later episodes, but the director doesn’t draw Revolution. This ‘people’s
as an auteur of the long-form documentary. on his masses of archive footage to revisit it, instead history’ draws on 350 accounts written
by labourers offering a factory-floor
There is nowhere the French filmmaker’s camera relying on a hasty summation from Michael’s lawyer.
view of the period. Through these
doesn’t go. He is welcomed into the Peterson’s home, The Netflix series comes with bonus material, autobiographies the author reveals the
where he interviews many of Michael and Kathleen’s including a featurette on how some experts think social impact of the tech boom.
grown-up children. He is also given a front row seat for Kathleen’s injuries are consistent with an attack by a
the defence’s preparations. Fans of de Lestrade’s bird of prey. There is also an audio-only episode from VICTORIANSUNDONE
Oscar-winning Murder On A Sunday Morning, about a Netflix’s true crime podcast series, You Can’t Make This Author: Kathryn Hughes
falsely accused black, working-class teenager, will be Up. While ‘The Owl Theory’ is an interesting aside, the Price: £10
This unique book focuses
shocked by the contrast. As well as assembling his latter will give binge-watchers whiplash. Its presenters
on the body parts that
own team of experts to investigate the death, Michael’s adopt a jovial tone to their deep dive of define five famous
lawyer employs a witness coach and even uses focus Peterson’s trial, which makes for a crass Victorians as a means of
groups to test arguments. coda to de Lestrade’s masterpiece. exploring the attitudes of
On the other side, de Lestrade also interviews the While its as tense as a true crime the age. For example, a study of Charles
Insightful,
district of attorney’s office, rides along with police shocker, The Staircase is a smart, Naturalistic, Darwin’s beard focuses on the fashion for
facial hair post-Crimea, while rumours that
officers that worked the case, and meets Kathleen’s considered study that doesn’t Extraordinary George Eliot’s right hand was larger than
sisters who quickly blamed Michael. serve up easy answers. RL her left scandalised her family.
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