The history of EnglandVolume V,: Dominion

Uncover the intricate past of England in Peter Ackroyd's acclaimed volume, Dominion, a crucial part of his sweeping History of England series.

This charismatic narrative opens with the aftermath of Waterloo in 1815 and concludes with the death of Queen Victoria in 1901. Ackroyd masterfully recounts the era of George IV, whose rule witnessed staunch resistance to reform, and that of 'Sailor King' William IV, an epoch which marked significant modernisation and the abolition of slavery. When eighteen-year-old Queen Victoria's took the throne, a period of astonishing technological breakthroughs and innovation – such as steam railways and the telegraph.

Yet, beneath the progress, Ackroyd unflinchingly reveals the harsh reality of the ordinary working classes mired in poverty whilst the industrial revolution flourishes around them. It was a time that saw a flowering of great literature, too.

As the Georgian era gave way to that of Victoria, readers could delight not only in the work of Byron, Shelley and Wordsworth but also the great nineteenth-century novelists: the Brontë sisters, George Eliot, Mrs Gaskell, Thackeray, and, of course, Dickens, whose work has become synonymous with Victorian England.

Finally, Ackroyd illustrates the British Empire's global expansion, reflecting Britannia's iron rule over the waves, the shockwaves of which are still felt today.