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Victorian Sensation: Or the Spectacular, the Shocking and the Scandalous in Nineteenth-Century Britain
'Victorian Sensation' sheds light on the Victorians' fascination with celebrity culture and their obsession with gruesome and explicit reportage of murders and sex scandals. With a vivid cast of characters, ranging from the serial poisoner William Palmer, to Charles Dickens, Jumbo the Elephant, distinguished politicians and even the Queen herself, this passionate analysis of the period reveals how the reporting methods of our own popular media have their origins in the Victorian press, and shows that sensation was as integral a part of society in the nineteenth century as it is today.
336 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2003
82 people want to read
About the author
Michael Diamond
4 books6 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Michael Diamond has been an editor, producer and presenter for the BBC, where he worked on 'The World at One' and the 'BBC World Service'. He has a lifelong interest in the Victorian age. He has recently published 'Victorian Sensation: Or the Spectacular, the Shocking and the Scandalous in Nineteenth-Century Britain' (Anthem Press, 2004).
Michael Diamond has been an editor, producer and presenter for the BBC, where he worked on 'The World at One' and the 'BBC World Service'. He has a lifelong interest in the Victorian age. He has recently published 'Victorian Sensation: Or the Spectacular, the Shocking and the Scandalous in Nineteenth-Century Britain' (Anthem Press, 2004).
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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June 8, 2015Brought to your courtesy of Reading Project 2015.
Brisk, engaging, surprisingly non-condescending romp through the seedy underbelly of the Victorian underworld.
Not massively deep but lots of fun. I particularly enjoyed the the chapter on sensation fiction, which again is appreciative and thoughtful.
Brisk, engaging, surprisingly non-condescending romp through the seedy underbelly of the Victorian underworld.
Not massively deep but lots of fun. I particularly enjoyed the the chapter on sensation fiction, which again is appreciative and thoughtful.
February 5, 2024
Informative but bland
"Victorian sensation" by Michael Diamond traces the origins of our obsession with sensation, scandal and the rich & famous by the media. Diamond considers the way newspapers reported and music halls commented on infamous events and novelties during the 19th century. The result is an anthology of well known stories juxtapose almost forgotten ones; ranging from Jack the Ripper, the trial of Lady Mordaunt, Josephine Butler, the birth of the sensation novel, Madame Tussaud and the Russell murder case.
Although the book is well researched and informative, I thought "Victorian sensation" missed depth and pace. It covers many interesting tales, but has little substantive background, other then what the media reported at the time. Furthermore, what may have been considered sensational in Victorian times would hardly raise an eyebrow these days. Consequently, I found "Victorian Sensation" rather bland and struggled through the pages.
In conclusion I would suggest, this is a book for social historians of the Victorian age, but not for general readers looking for popular history or entertainment.
"Victorian sensation" by Michael Diamond traces the origins of our obsession with sensation, scandal and the rich & famous by the media. Diamond considers the way newspapers reported and music halls commented on infamous events and novelties during the 19th century. The result is an anthology of well known stories juxtapose almost forgotten ones; ranging from Jack the Ripper, the trial of Lady Mordaunt, Josephine Butler, the birth of the sensation novel, Madame Tussaud and the Russell murder case.
Although the book is well researched and informative, I thought "Victorian sensation" missed depth and pace. It covers many interesting tales, but has little substantive background, other then what the media reported at the time. Furthermore, what may have been considered sensational in Victorian times would hardly raise an eyebrow these days. Consequently, I found "Victorian Sensation" rather bland and struggled through the pages.
In conclusion I would suggest, this is a book for social historians of the Victorian age, but not for general readers looking for popular history or entertainment.
February 9, 2017
The research in this book had the potential to make a great read but the actual writing was a let-down.
I constantly found myself confused at what was happening and the general thread of each passage as everything was so bumbled together. It was as though the author was so excited about sharing everything that they'd researched that they ran away with the stories without really involving the reader. This was especially the case when the author was trying to sum up a fictional plot or the basic details of a murder as they'd often leave out the essential parts such as who was murdered and by whom altogether or leave them right until the end so the reader had no idea what they were really talking about. I tried to ignore this as the research is tackled admirably and some of the cases gave real insight into Victorian culture but even in cases where I already knew the background of the content from other reading I was confused at who or what the author was talking about. This was further confused when the author tried to connect stories/cases together with fairly tenuous links - rather than seamlessly going from one 'sensation' to the other by tackling them chronologically or thematically, it feels like the author is clutching at straws to make everything link together. The book would be so much better if each chapter was divided into subsections so we could see which details belong to which story - it would make figuring out the basic 'who, what, when, where' ten times easier.
My only other criticism, but a pretty big one in my view, is some of the language the author uses to describe the cases. In particular, there was an instance when Diamond describes the relationship between two homosexual men as having 'filthy details'. This just didn't seem appropriate at all and though I guess (and hope!) it was an attempt to poke fun at Victorian attitudes towards homosexuality, it really should have been pulled up and corrected during editing.
This isn't just nit-picking, there were multiple cases when the author used questionable word choices to describe people, particularly contemporary marginalised groups e.g. unmarried women. It seems out of place in the text and forced as though the author is trying to make the 'sensational' even more sensational which doesn't work and feels plain awkward when translating stories that were shocking to audiences in 1800s Britain into the context 21st century Britain.
Still, this is not a bad book. While the structure is messy and confusing, it is an interesting read once you begin to get your head around what's going on. The author manages to give a decent context to most of the tales and goes out of his way to include why a particular thing would have been a cause for 'sensation' in Victorian society which is not only helpful for placing the stories but also for imagining the experiences of Victorian life from the perspectives of a range of social groups.
The book isn't an easy read thanks to the structure but if you can get past that, the language and content is pretty accessible and interesting enough to give some historical background without taking on any sort of academic dryness.
I reckon it'd be a decent read for anyone with a passing interest in Victorian Britain that doesn't know too much about the period. Instead of, or alongside this, I'd recommend reading the likes of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist (if you're interested in Victorian poverty or criminal justice) or Emma Donoghue's Slammerkin (basically a gritty, seedy account of gender issues in Victorian London), while both fictional and very different in style, will give a much juicier introduction to the Victorian period.
I constantly found myself confused at what was happening and the general thread of each passage as everything was so bumbled together. It was as though the author was so excited about sharing everything that they'd researched that they ran away with the stories without really involving the reader. This was especially the case when the author was trying to sum up a fictional plot or the basic details of a murder as they'd often leave out the essential parts such as who was murdered and by whom altogether or leave them right until the end so the reader had no idea what they were really talking about. I tried to ignore this as the research is tackled admirably and some of the cases gave real insight into Victorian culture but even in cases where I already knew the background of the content from other reading I was confused at who or what the author was talking about. This was further confused when the author tried to connect stories/cases together with fairly tenuous links - rather than seamlessly going from one 'sensation' to the other by tackling them chronologically or thematically, it feels like the author is clutching at straws to make everything link together. The book would be so much better if each chapter was divided into subsections so we could see which details belong to which story - it would make figuring out the basic 'who, what, when, where' ten times easier.
My only other criticism, but a pretty big one in my view, is some of the language the author uses to describe the cases. In particular, there was an instance when Diamond describes the relationship between two homosexual men as having 'filthy details'. This just didn't seem appropriate at all and though I guess (and hope!) it was an attempt to poke fun at Victorian attitudes towards homosexuality, it really should have been pulled up and corrected during editing.
This isn't just nit-picking, there were multiple cases when the author used questionable word choices to describe people, particularly contemporary marginalised groups e.g. unmarried women. It seems out of place in the text and forced as though the author is trying to make the 'sensational' even more sensational which doesn't work and feels plain awkward when translating stories that were shocking to audiences in 1800s Britain into the context 21st century Britain.
Still, this is not a bad book. While the structure is messy and confusing, it is an interesting read once you begin to get your head around what's going on. The author manages to give a decent context to most of the tales and goes out of his way to include why a particular thing would have been a cause for 'sensation' in Victorian society which is not only helpful for placing the stories but also for imagining the experiences of Victorian life from the perspectives of a range of social groups.
The book isn't an easy read thanks to the structure but if you can get past that, the language and content is pretty accessible and interesting enough to give some historical background without taking on any sort of academic dryness.
I reckon it'd be a decent read for anyone with a passing interest in Victorian Britain that doesn't know too much about the period. Instead of, or alongside this, I'd recommend reading the likes of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist (if you're interested in Victorian poverty or criminal justice) or Emma Donoghue's Slammerkin (basically a gritty, seedy account of gender issues in Victorian London), while both fictional and very different in style, will give a much juicier introduction to the Victorian period.
March 17, 2011
lovely. it covers - in an introductory manner - several sensations of the victorian ages. it's like an overview of the seedier things victorian.
there are chapters on royalty (no good scandal without...), political movements, religion and morality, sex scandal (juicy...), murder, and: for a literature graduate - the sensation novel, which was highly interesting as well as the sensation drama. i enjoyed the short descriptions of the plays which are hardly ever (or never even?) seen on stage these days, a space taken over by cinema.
i enjoyed all chapters, the political movement one had some info on the chartists, which was something i had come across in the one or other history seminar - this and in fact the whole book gives you another different dimension that you wouldn't have thought about before with traditional history academic literature. most, i liked the literary one and the murder chapter. it recounts some cases and this is highly interesting, people were and are still up to the same thing. also, exciting glimpses on the execution as an event.
the picture material is good too, the posters and penny illustrations. not the best written of all non-fiction books wriiten for the general public but also not so dry as needs classing for a "proper academic" book. enjoyable and: lovely.
there are chapters on royalty (no good scandal without...), political movements, religion and morality, sex scandal (juicy...), murder, and: for a literature graduate - the sensation novel, which was highly interesting as well as the sensation drama. i enjoyed the short descriptions of the plays which are hardly ever (or never even?) seen on stage these days, a space taken over by cinema.
i enjoyed all chapters, the political movement one had some info on the chartists, which was something i had come across in the one or other history seminar - this and in fact the whole book gives you another different dimension that you wouldn't have thought about before with traditional history academic literature. most, i liked the literary one and the murder chapter. it recounts some cases and this is highly interesting, people were and are still up to the same thing. also, exciting glimpses on the execution as an event.
the picture material is good too, the posters and penny illustrations. not the best written of all non-fiction books wriiten for the general public but also not so dry as needs classing for a "proper academic" book. enjoyable and: lovely.
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April 7, 2014Great fun
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews