Dominion

Dominion starts in the difficult aftermath of Waterloo and ends with the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. It follows campaigns for parliamentary reform and the abolition of slavery, the reigns of George IV and William IV, Victoria’s long monarchy, rapid industrialisation, railway and telegraph expansion, urban growth and the widening reach of the British Empire.

The book sets political argument and imperial power against the conditions experienced by workers, the poor and the expanding middle class. Ackroyd also considers the literature and public culture of the period, using the contrast between technological confidence and persistent inequality to explain the ambitions and anxieties of Victorian England.