Every now and then you come across a technical or academic book that is clear, concise and just beautifully written. This is such a book. One hundred and fifty years are covered at a cracking pace and I savoured each and every page. It's a large book at 750+ pages, but it left me wishing it had been twice as long.
Most books relating to this period cover who did what, to whom and when. Bartlett doesn't: he assumes if you're reading this book you already know, at least in outline, the events of the period. It does cover how people lived, worked, worshipped, swore, laughed and cried. It makes you feel that you understand what it would have been liked to have lived during the period.
The book is well structured and you can happily dip in here and there as your interest takes you.
One minor criticism is that there are many words and phrases which, it is plain from context, have a particular technical meaning that Bartlett doesn't explain. But with Google to hand that's just a minor irritation.
I just hope the rest of the series is as good.