Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Victorian Eye: A Political History of Light and Vision in Britain, 1800-1910
    The Victorian Eye: A Political History of Light and Vision in Britain, 1800-1910
    The Victorian Eye: A Political History of Light and Vision in Britain, 1800-1910
    Ebook379 pages8 hours

    The Victorian Eye: A Political History of Light and Vision in Britain, 1800-1910

    By Chris Otter

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    During the nineteenth century, Britain became the first gaslit society, with electric lighting arriving in 1878. At the same time, the British government significantly expanded its power to observe and monitor its subjects. How did such enormous changes in the way people saw and were seen affect Victorian culture?   To answer that question, Chris Otter mounts an ambitious history of illumination and vision in Britain, drawing on extensive research into everything from the science of perception and lighting technologies to urban design and government administration. He explores how light facilitated such practices as safe transportation and private reading, as well as institutional efforts to collect knowledge. And he contends that, contrary to presumptions that illumination helped create a society controlled by intrusive surveillance, the new radiance often led to greater personal freedom and was integral to the development of modern liberal society.
    The Victorian Eye’s innovative interdisciplinary approach—and generous illustrations­—will captivate a range of readers interested in the history of modern Britain, visual culture, technology, and urbanization.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press
    Release dateNov 15, 2008
    ISBN9780226640785
    The Victorian Eye: A Political History of Light and Vision in Britain, 1800-1910

    Related to The Victorian Eye

    Related ebooks

    Technology & Engineering For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Richard Iii’s Last Stand

      Sep 30, 2021

      Richard Iii’s Last Stand
      3 min read

    • Article

      Gaslighting London

      Aug 26, 2021

      UNTIL RECENTLY, most people (including me) would not have known that much of the City of Westminster is lit not by electric street lights, but by Victorian gas lamps. As you walk along the north side of The Mall, cross St. James’s Park, browse the sh

      3 min read

    • Article

      City of Light

      Mar 8, 2019

      City of Light
      5 min read

    • Article

      Urban Streams

      Jun 29, 2022

      Urban Streams
      6 min read

    • Article

      Wellington Architecture

      May 5, 2022

      John Walsh and Patrick Reynolds Massey University Press, 2022 John Walsh, arguably one of New Zealand’s leading writers specialising in architecture, and Patrick Reynolds, one of New Zealand’s finest architectural photographers, have once again forme

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Electronic Component That Changed Australia (and The World)

      Nov 28, 2022

      The new Apple A16 Bionic chip inside the iPhone 14 has almost 16-billion transistors. At first glance, it might’ve look more like a high-school science experiment than a revolutionary step into the future, but 75 years ago this December, a group of U

      8 min read

    • Article

      Aotearoa New Zealand Architecture Books, 2022

      Mar 9, 2023

      Supported by Back in 2008, when the forerunners of this current series of itineraries were published in Block: The Broadsheet of the Auckland Branch of the NZIA, Andrew Barrie and I wrote two such guides on out-of-print New Zealand architecture books

      9 min read

    • Article

      Lost In Space

      Jun 4, 2021

      Lost In Space
      4 min read

    • Article

      Free Range

      Jul 4, 2021

      Free Range
      5 min read

    • Article

      Like Something From A Kubrick Film – The Hunt For Britain’s Best Modern Buildings

      Mar 24, 2022

      ‘Why does nobody ever talk about Grimsby central library?” asks Owen Hatherley with an air of mild outrage. “How is it not famous? It’s a fabulous little building, with chandeliers, mosaics, public sculpture, a wonderful double-height reading room. I

      5 min read

    • Article

      Spirit Of Invention

      Aug 11, 2023

      Spirit Of Invention
      5 min read

    • Article

      Links Between Railways And Slave Trade To Be Examined In New Study

      Dec 21, 2021

      CURATORS from the National Railway Museum are to take part in a research project exploring links between steam power, railways, and the global slave trade. Under the banner of Slavery and Steam: Steam Power, Railways and Colonialism, the project has

      1 min read

    • Article

      Diary Dates

      Dec 11, 2021

      Diary Dates
      2 min read

    • Article

      Interview / Neil Macgregor

      Mar 17, 2022

      Interview / Neil Macgregor
      9 min read

    • Article

      TV & RADIO

      May 2, 2023

      Radio 4 and BBC Sounds Began Friday 28 April It’s hardly surprising that so many lurid stories of the horrendous crimes of William Burke and William Hare have come down to us through the years. In 1828, the duo embarked on a murder spree that saw the

      2 min read

    • Article

      A Vision to Behold: The Story of Electronic Displays

      Nov 6, 2023

      No electronic device has changed our view of the world we live in quite like the electronic screen. Whether it’s a cathode-ray tube television from 1956 or a smartphone purchased ten minutes ago, our lives have been dominated by the desire to see bey

      8 min read

    • Article

      Melting Pot of Ideas

      Nov 9, 2017

      Melting Pot of Ideas
      2 min read

    • Article

      Reviews

      Jul 3, 2023

      By Charles Loft WITHOUT a doubt, this book succeeds in its aim of giving perspective regarding how Governments before and during the Beeching era, and those who fought some of the individual closures, perceived the railways in relation to other trans

      4 min read

    • Article

      Encounters

      Aug 3, 2023

      Encounters
      3 min read

    • Article

      Bookshelf

      Dec 3, 2018

      Since its inception in 2007, British publisher Monocle has, through its annual Quality of Life ranking of cities, the radio show The Urbanist and myriad guidebooks, covered cities and urbanism in many guises. This book brings some of those stories in

      3 min read

    • Article

      meet THE EDWARDIANS

      Jul 26, 2022

      meet THE EDWARDIANS
      12 min read

    • Article

      The Fabulous Fifties

      May 3, 2022

      The Fabulous Fifties
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Fabulous Fifties

      May 3, 2022

      The Fabulous Fifties
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Magnificent Update — For Good And Ill

      Nov 30, 2023

      AQUESTION FOR YOUR NEXTChristmas quiz: which knighted British architectural historian went to the same school as the composer Richard Wagner? Answer: Sir Nikolaus Pevsner (1902–83), the émigré German scholar who became one of the most influential pub

      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Victorian Eye

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      The Victorian Eye - Chris Otter

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1