Victorian Dundee: Image and Realities

by Christopher A. Whatley (Editor), Bob Harris (Editor), Louise Miskell (Editor)

This volume represents a scholarly challenge to Dundee's traditional image as a town overshadowed by the jute industry, abandoned by its wealthy middle classes and characterized by social strife and architectural ugliness. The book brings together new research on the activities of Dundee's businessmen, civic elites, intellectuals, social reformers, urban planners and working classes to reveal a civic image that differs radically from the "juteopolis" myth. Jute's domination of the local economy was shortlived, and its influence on modern perceptions of the city has been over-played. This book, exploring the development of Dundee before and after the heyday of jute, offer a contribution to the history of urban society and its management in Scotland in the 19th century and to a growing body of work on textile and manufacturing towns in this period.

238 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2002

About the author

Christopher Allan Whatley FRHistS, FRSE is a well-known and widely published Scottish historian. He has been Professor of Scottish History at the University of Dundee since 1997.

Reviews

[Derek McRonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd agree with other reviews that there are some chapters that read like history text books . Whilst being familiar with many Dundee history publications( some by some of the authors of this book I have still taken on quite a lot of new information from this book .

[David Robertson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although this contained some useful information and is well written - I found it heavy going and very dry. What is particularly disappointing are the aspects of Victorian Dundee that are left out - most notably the impact of Christianity and the Church. This I suspect reflects the outlook of the writers rather than the reality of the situation.