Synopsis
For the Victorians, the advent of the railways symbolized a new age of progress, power, and civilization. Since then, industrialization has often proved a mixed blessing; yet we continue to acknowledge the importance--as well as the romantic mystique--of the rails and all that comes with them. This engaging book examines the role of the railway station around the world, revealing a microcosm more complex and fascinating than anything our nineteenth-century forebears could have dreamed of. The authors chart the changing styles in the construction and decoration of the station, from the somber grandeur of St. Pancras in London to the humbler delights of country stations in the American Midwest. As the book shows, the various facilities offered by the station have assumed as much importance as the building itself: the ticket office and the waiting room have become as familiar as the trains. The book also discusses how, in paintings and poetry, stations have been depicted as places of tearful departure or joyful reunion, and how, in films like Brief Encounter, they have assumed the status of a starring role. Stations also have had a part to play in politics and the economy, especially in wartime, and governments throughout the world have long recognized their strategic significance. This enthralling volume captures the allure of the station by encompassing the disciplines of history, literature, art, and architecture in a sweeping global survey, unique in both scope and perspective.
About the Author
Jeffrey Richards is Professor of Cultural History at Lancaster University. Among his books are Hollywood's Ancient Worlds, Sir Henry Irving: A Victorian Actor and his World and Imperialism and Music. The Railway Station: a Social History, co-written with John MacKenzie, has been reissued in Faber Finds. Jeffrey Richards is general editor of the Studies in Popular Culture series. John MacKenzie is Professor Emeritus of Imperial History at Lancaster University. He also holds honorary professorship of the Universities of Aberdeen, St. Andrews, Stirling and Edinburgh and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He has published extensively in the field of British imperial history: among his books are Propaganda and Empire (1984), The Empire of Nature (1988), Orientalism: History, Theory and the Arts (1995), Empires of Nature and the Nature of Empires (1997), The Scots in South Africa (2007) and Museums and Empire (2009). He has edited a number of books, including catalogues for the National Portrait Gallery (David Livingstone and the Victorian Encounter with Africa, 1996) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (The Victorian Vision, 2001), and most recently Peoples, Nations and Cultures (2005). He is currently working on two edited works, European Empires and the People (2010) and Scotland and the British Empire (2011). He continues to travel extensively around the world, both for research and for pleasure, and has maintained his interest in railway stations and the societies they serve. He now lives in retirement in Perthshire, cultivating a large garden.
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