{"product_id":"servants-9781408842706","title":"Servants","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Hugely enjoyable'' - Kathryn Hughes, \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003eGlorious ... Full of eyebrow-raising and laughter-inducing vignettes'' - \u003ci\u003eDaily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eServants\u003c\/i\u003e is the social history of the last century through the eyes of those who served. From the butler, the footman, the maid and the cook of 1900 to the au pairs, cleaners and childminders who took their place seventy years later, a previously unheard class offers a fresh perspective on a dramatic century. Here, the voices of servants and domestic staff are at last brought to life: their daily household routines, attitudes towards their employers, and to each other, throw into sharp and intimate relief the period of feverish social change through which they lived. Sweeping in its scope, extensively researched and brilliantly observed, \u003ci\u003eServants\u003c\/i\u003e is an original and fascinating portrait of twentieth-century Britain; an authoritative history that will change and challenge the way we look at society.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHugely enjoyable ... a richly textured account of what it felt like to spend the decades of high modernity on your knees with a dustpan and brush ... an excellent addition to the history of domestic service in the 20th century ... Where \u003ci\u003eServants \u003c\/i\u003eexcels is in describing those placed where the older paradigms of domestic service, inherited from the late 19th century, began to break down -- Kathryn Hughes * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003eDelightfully well-written ... scrupulously even-handed ... Hats off to Lethbridge for so touchingly and comprehensively chronicling those lives that history, like the snootiest of employers, has neglected for so long -- Craig Brown * The Mail on Sunday *\u003cbr\u003eGlorious ... Full of eyebrow-raising and laughter-inducing vignettes. But what is most fascinating is Lethbridge’s account of the dark side of the master-servant relationship * Daily Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003eBeautifully written, sparkling with insight, and a pleasure to read, \u003ci\u003eServants \u003c\/i\u003eis social history at its most humane and perceptive. In broad terms, the world Lethbridge describes is a familiar one, but she nails it all down with the kind of detail that still has the power to astonish, outrage or amuse * Times Literary Supplement *\u003cbr\u003eScholarly, thorough and vastly entertaining ... Lethbridge's style is elegant, detached and slyly witty, and her canvas sprawling and immense\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003eEnthusiasts of bonnets and waistcoats will find \u003ci\u003eUpstairs Downstairs \u003c\/i\u003eor \u003ci\u003eDownton Abbey\u003c\/i\u003e all the more enjoyable after reading this nuanced and elegantly written account of the wider context. And in tracing the history of servants throughout the whole of the 20th century, Lethbridge offers a new vantage point from which to reassess British social history\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e -- Lara Feigel * Observer *\u003cbr\u003eHumane, perceptive and dispassionate, \u003ci\u003eServants\u003c\/i\u003e takes us more deeply and comprehensively than any previous account into the real world of \u003ci\u003eUpstairs Downstairs\u003c\/i\u003e -- David Kynaston\u003cbr\u003eAbsorbing ... Lethbridge enables us to hear the voices of her subjects; she skilfully interweaves written and oral testimony ... Empathetic, wide-ranging and well-written * Spectator *\u003cbr\u003eEngrossing * Sunday Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003eEnlightening and elegantly written social history\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e -- Joy Lo Dico * Independent on Sunday *\u003cbr\u003eEnthralling ... Lethbridge shows that the history of life below stairs is just as interesting as the story of life above them * Tatler *\u003cbr\u003eExcellent social history ... Anyone who longs to believe Downton Abbey’s comforting portrayal of life below stairs will emerge from its pages disabused of such sentimental notions * Daily Mail *\u003cbr\u003eThoroughly researched and tremendously entertaining ... Illustrated with a host of terrific anecdotes * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eMeticulously researched ... It makes a grand sweep, covering a rich swathe of social history which Lethbridge unpicks with delicacy, humanity and humour ... Lethbridge shows how complex and varied the relationship between servant and master could be * The Tablet *\u003cbr\u003eComprehensively reached and charmingly engaging, \u003ci\u003eServants \u003c\/i\u003eis a sensitive, humane and penetrating insight into British society * Western Morning News *\u003cbr\u003eAbsorbing history ... Telling their story so fully and humanely * Economist *\u003cbr\u003eFascinating\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e * Independent *\u003cbr\u003eThe stories are reminiscent of below-stairs life as depicted in TV’s \u003ci\u003eDownton Abbey\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e * Jewish Chronicle *\u003cbr\u003eNeither snobbish nor socialist, Lethbridge has produced a sympathetic and affectionate study, laced with invigorating anecdotes * Intelligent Life *\u003cbr\u003eBy no means the standard \u003ci\u003eDownton Abbey\u003c\/i\u003e cash-in. Instead, a brilliantly researched and often eye-opening account of twentieth-century life below stairs * Reader's Digest *\u003cbr\u003eExcellent, thoroughly researched\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e -- Paul Bailey * The Oldie *\u003cbr\u003eComprehensive * Good Book Guide *","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing PLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48866816950615,"sku":"9781408842706","price":15.29,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/servants-9781408842706","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}