Alice Loxton's Uproar! is a history book which tells the story of Georgian caricaturists. I requested this book because I did a course on 18th century print culture at uni and I loved it, but lol, turns out I forgot that all the satirical prints were my least favourite part of the course. Still, I think this is a really good history book – very informative, very well-researched, told with a snappy and vivid narrative voice – and I would recommend if you're interested. I do love when history books re-contextualise periods you think you know a lot about, and satirical prints were incredibly popular and had a lot of influence at the time, in ways I kind of knew thanks to that history course but had forgotten about. For example, did you know that a caricature is the reason everyone believes Napoleon was small? (He wasn't! He was taller than Nelson!)

Alice Loxton’s Uproar! Probably needs its subtitle - Satire, Scandal and Printmakers in Georgian London – to give the reader a clue what it’s about. Don’t let the Author’s Note at the beginning put you off. Its deliberately “down and dirty” tone – “We’ll pry into the most intimate moments of our ancestors’ lives – see them sneeze and yawn, hear them giggle and snort” does not reflect the deep scholarship that Loxton has put into this book. It’s far better than you might be led to expect from that introduction, even though a later footnote includes “Ten points to Gryffindor”.

The look is undoubtedly written in a brisk style and does use the domestic lives of its subjects to carry the narrative forward. Chapter one starts with “A fifteen-year-old whippersnapper named Tom scurried through the grimy backstreets of eighteenth-century London.” That’s Thomas Rowlandson, the great artist. The book focuses upon Rowlandson, James Gillray and Isaac Cruikshank. There are imagined conversations between them and other suppositions about what they did or thought but, in general, this is serious research put over in a very light C21st manner – “The nation held its breath and grabbed the popcorn.”.

Loxton does an excellent job of showing us the rivalry between the artists and the printmakers to depict the truly exciting political and court world of the late 1700s and early 1800s. CJ Fox, William Pitt and the Prince Regent were just a few of the much larger than life characters that the artists gleefully lampooned. Like today’s brilliant Matt of the Daily Telegraph, they responded overnight to news stories. Although I knew a bit about the political history of the time and about the artists, Loxton’s narrative really does put the two together in a highly readable way. Understanding the commercial aspects of the print world, with rival printmakers racing to be the first to issue prints commenting on current news stories; the scandals (and why they were scandals); and the political leanings of the various players, makes this book the best commentary upon those times that I’ve read.

I really do recommend this book. If, like me, you have initial reservations about the very modern prose style that mentions Rowlandson’s aunt giving him “dollops of TLC”, don’t worry. It actually works very well and does carry the narrative forward at pace. I began to enjoy the style and I emphatically enjoyed the book. There are enough footnotes to satisfy the most fastidious historian, drawing upon primary and secondary sources; a comprehensive bibliography; and lots of illustrations. The quality of the reproductions weren’t terribly good in the proof e-book I was sent, but that might be down to them being prints that are, after all, over 200 years old!

#UPROAR #NetGalley

Thank you to #Netgalley and #Iconbooks for giving me access to this ARC of #Uproar

This book has been an absolute delight to read and review. Alice Loxton has given us an insightful, witty and marvelous history of Georgian Britain never seen before. This is an incredible debut and it's so exciting to see a new female historian of such calibre.

We follow three young men, Thomas Rowlandson, James Gillray and Issac Cruickshank from their enrolment at the Royal Academies to their established careers as satirists. This time period yields an unending source of serious issues for their comment on the social, political and ethical events. There was war, Napoleonic and American Independence, Royal scandal: the madness of King George III and the outrageous behaviour of the Prince Regent and political drama. All of these were portrayed with savage wit and acumen. They were the memes of their time, with people crowding to see the new illustrations in the windows of the publishers.

I enjoyed this so much, Loxton's writing is engaging, fun and astute. This will be on my books of the year list.

Fantastically entertaining, enthralling and educational to boot. I loved this delve into the everyday and not so everyday life of seventeenth century Britain and the unsung heroes, the cartoonists who depicted the goings on and political events with an incredibly dry wit and excellently observing eye.
The level of detail in the narrative is stunning so i felt fully immersed in the contemporary era. I loved that the author drew comparison and made quips which pinged us back to the present era, as they were astute observations in the same style as the artists about they were writing about and reminded me that, although centuries apart, there are many parallels to be drawn.
An exceptional book after which I feel much enlightened and enthused to further research the subject. Absolutely brilliant.

Great historical read.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read an advance copy of this book.

Really enjoyed reading this and how the satirists seemed to have a massive influence on the politics of the day.
It's a very visually descriptive book that makes an excellent point.
Fascinating and thought provoking stuff

Keen to learn more about the skill and use of satirical cartoons in the Georgian period I was certainly enlightened by this interesting book by Alice Loxton. However I was not overly keen on the style of writing throwing in the use of present day language and some how I did not find the book as amusing as perhaps I had hoped bearing in mind the subject.
Informative but just not in my style I'm afraid.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

I picked up this book on Netgalley since it was covering a topic I knew only a little about, namely the rise in satirical cartooning in Georgian England, and wasn't left disappointed. The book itself is a thorough trip through the period, giving lots of details of the people involved - the artists and printmakers, as well as the politicians and other notables on the receiving end of a regular skewering.

The reason it's not 5 stars? While thorough enough, I found some of the descriptions a bit anachronistic, as very modern language was used (quoting current or recent internet memes, for example) and that sat very oddly for me with the subject matter. As a result, there were places where I found myself a little annoyed about the choices the author had made and that definitely lessened my enjoyment of the book overall.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, via Netgalley. This is my honest review of the book in question.

I have long loved the satirical drawings of Georgian England and have wished to learn more about them, since, while they often illustrate books on the era, they are rarely spoken of in any detail. Therefore I was excited to see a book releasing on this very topic. Overall, Alice Loxton's Uproar! is a wonderful read. It was fascinating to learn more about the background of the artists and the manner in which they produced their prints. Their personal stories were expertly woven in with discussion of the key events and people they lampooned in their artworks, and I learnt a few new things along the way that I hadn't come across in other books on the period. The only reason this book gets 4.5 stars from me and not a full 5 is the fact that, given it is a book about art, I would have liked to have seen more visuals included, perhaps in the form of colour plates. However, I note that I was reading an ARC. Therefore, it may well be that additional images will be included in the final version of the book. I will have to take a look once it releases, as this is one I would like to buy a copy of for my shelf! Recommended for anyone interested in either the Georgian era or the birth of cartoons and satirical artwork.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this review copy. As a huge fan of the Georgian and regency periods I was excited to read this book. I was not disappointed. Alice Loxton’s narrative style juxtaposed humour with fascinating insights into this time period. She is a highly talented writer. I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.