Description
Book SynopsisA brief history of one of the most vibrant periods of European culture. Connects European culture of the period, including literature, art and philosophy, to broader themes of industrialisation, commercialisation and empire. Written in a very fluid and readable style and brings in a wealth of cultural examples.
Trade Review"A very readable and insightful introduction."
European History Quarterly "Nineteenth-Century Europe's reworking of familiar textbook themes in the light of recent cultural history will doubtless win it a place on many reading lists."
English Historical Review
"[Hannu's] survey manages to compress a good range of concisely expressed insights into its limited compass. Among the most noteable features are its astute use of literary quotation and its consistent concern with the differences between male and female perceptions of the social and intellectual developments at issue ... it is also enlived by what most anglophone readers will encounter as some refreshingly unfamiliar citations of Finnish evidence."
History
“This concise but wide-ranging essay on the cultural history of nineteenth-century Europe is lucid, fluent, and written in an attractive, personal way, illustrating many arguments from well-known works of literature. The author's recurrent use of Finnish examples offers something new to readers from other parts of Europe.”
Peter Burke, University of Cambridge
“Hannu Salmi's ambitious, brilliantly synthesized book on the innumerable cultural histories that constitute nineteenth-century Europe is to be recommended to specialists and non-specialists alike. Above all, its cosmopolitanism, and its vital attention to everyday lives as well as to the world-historical events that ultimately motivate them, make it an indispensable, and highly readable, introduction to this important field of scholarship.”
Matthew Beaumont, University College, London
“This book is a thoughtful, well written and clear alternative to the standard textbook treatment of nineteenth century Europe. Unified in its vision, instead of the grand political narrative, it offers a rich survey of the perceptions and meanings that Europeans developed to make sense of a changing world. Salmi uses popular fiction of the day particularly well to illustrate his themes of modernization and its attendant anxieties.”
Lenard R. Berlanstein, University of Virginia
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements vi
Introduction 1
1 Industrialization: Economy and Culture 12
2 The Faustian Man: A Society in Motion 29
3 From the Cult of Genius to Worship of Art 43
4 On the Cultural History of Nationalism 58
5 A Century of Family and Home: Daily Routines and Country Excursions 72
6 Baudelaire in the Department Store: Urban Living and Consumption 88
7 The Breakthrough of Mechanical Reproduction 99
8 Colonial Culture and European Identity 112
9 Fin de Siècle: The End of a Century 124
10 Conclusion: ‘Things to Come’ 140
Notes 148
Bibliography 165
Index 184
