The Fall and Rise of the Stately Home Mandler, Mr. Peter

This pathbreaking account of England`s stately homes over the past two centuries reveals much about the relationship of the nation to its past and its aristocracy. Mandler melds social, cultural, artistic, and political perspectives to show how attitudes toward the great country houses have veered from selective appreciation to outright hostility and only recently to thoroughgoing admiration.

This book surveys the complex interactions among culture, aesthetics, society, and politics on which the reputations of English country houses have risen and fallen over the past 200 years. It is a fascinating story of the ascent of the English estate in the Victorian period, the derision and neglect they experienced in the Edwardian age, and, ultimately, their restoration in the present era, as they beckon legions of postmodern tastemakers such as Ralph Lauren into their midst. Mandler (history, London Guildhall Univ.) writes like a dream, and he has successfully melded scholarship in many branches of history (the history of gardens, art, architecture, politics, economics, and more) into a coherent account free of nostalgia, sentiment, and cant. Excellent reading for informed readers.?Peter S. Kaufman, Boston Architectural Ctr.
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