UPROAR!: Satire, Scandal and Printmakers in Georgian London

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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. It’s far better than you might be led to expect from that introduction, even though a later footnote includes “Ten points to Gryffindor”.

A gripping, energetic and easy to follow deep dive into the raucous satire revolution of late Georgian Britain.The specific piece on the front, “Plum Pudding” sits outside my office door, on a wall draped in other Edwardian period pieces. It was also very interesting to learn about how publishers and print houses operated in this era as well as the process of designing, etching, printing and distributing each print. If, like me, you are attracted but daunted by the prospect of reading English history for the first time, this is the book for you.

I think writing a book about some of Britain's most interesting, funny, and talented artists that are so often overlooked was an absolute masterstroke by Alice. She is also a well-loved face of the History Hit YouTube channel, and shares her passion for history with her 1 million + followers across social media. CJ Fox, William Pitt and the Prince Regent were just a few of the much larger than life characters that the artists gleefully lampooned. I’ve presented many history documentaries, been interviewed as a talking head, and appeared on live international broadcasts.I have worked with the National Trust, as well as being asked to speak at 10 Downing Street, the Hay Festival, Oxford Literary Festival and many other places. I also learned a lot about satirists and caricature artists and the tabloidish media…and saw that honestly, it really hasn’t changed that much.

Probably needs its subtitle - Satire, Scandal and Printmakers in Georgian London – to give the reader a clue what it’s about. I also have a pretty packed line up of live events - Oxford Literary Festival, Hay Festival, Cheltenham Festival and Chalke Valley History Festival - and I’m excited to be working with the Royal Collection Trust, The National Archives, The Georgian Group, the Jane Austen House in Chawton and others to discuss UPROAR! details the lives and scandals of Londoners through the American and French revolutions, the age of Napoleon, and beyond.

The lack of references forces me to take the author's word on every detail, which given her writing style I am hesitant to do. I’ve been an avid follower of Loxton’s for a while now and as a former student of media discourse analysis, I was extremely excited to see she was publishing a book on Georgian satire. She uses hypothetical dialogue, journal entries, and “picture this” narrative devices to bring the reader into the past-she doesn’t simply regurgitate factual information. 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. This is a book that will cause readers to reappraise everything they think they know about genteel Georgian London, and see it for what it was – a time of UPROAR!