UPROAR!: Satire, Scandal and Printmakers in Georgian London

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Alice Loxton is a whirlwind of historical energy and UPROAR! is a sensational debut, which marks her out as one of the brightest new stars of popular history -- Dan Jones, author of POWERS AND THRONES Icon Books is an independent publisher of thought-provoking non-fiction. We publish science, history, politics, philosophy, psychology, humour and much else besides Alice Loxton's analysis of Georgian England is razor sharp, witty and engaging. An appropriately "laugh out loud" history of the age of satire -- Helen Carr, author of THE RED PRINCE

A brilliant new history of Georgian Britain through the eyes of the artists who immortalised it, by one of the UK's most exciting young historians ** As vivid and vibrant as any Rowlandson print - bawdy, beautiful, and brilliant -- Kate Lister, author of A CURIOUS HISTORY OF SEX As wittily subversive and deeply entertaining as the material it details, Alice Loxton's Uproar is a delightful romp through the colourful and controversial eighteenth century. Loxton has built a time-machine in a book, and invited us all along for a ride. I would suggest you hop in! -- Joanne Paul, author of THE HOUSE OF DUDLEYIncisive and hilarious introduction to the age of revolutions, seen through the lens of English satire

Covering the age of Georges III and IV, UPROAR! details the lives and scandals of Londoners through the American and French revolutions, the age of Napoleon, and beyond. Once more, It was reviewed in The Times , The New Statesman , TLS , LRB , The Spectator, BBC History Magazine, Country Life and The Mail on Sunday. I also wrote a piece which was printed in The Telegraph , and appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Loose Ends and twice on Times Radio . Vivid, pacey and endlessly engaging, this brilliant debut brings the late Georgian period dazzlingly to life. Irresistible stuff' TRACY BORMAN Did you know Napoleon was slightly above average height for his time period? So why do we think of him as short? Because brilliant satirist James Gillray portrayed him as a toddler having a tantrum and the image became so pervasive in Georgian a England that the image is still with us today. Teema osutus sellegipoolest sisukaks, poleks uskunud, et mind suudetakse ära veenda XVIII sajandi Inglise karikaturistide tähtsuses isegi laiema ajaloo jaoks.I would have liked the prints selected for this book to have been a bit larger (and, ideally, in colour, though I do understand this would likely have made an already-pricey book even more expensive to print), so I could read the speech bubbles and properly take in the details. I also personally wasn’t a fan of the fabricated dialogue and the numerous heavy-handed comparative references to modern pop culture for humorous effect didn’t really work for me either, but that’s just a matter of personal taste rather than quality. In March 2023, I published my debut non-fiction history book, UPROAR!, which tells the thrilling story of London’s satirists from the late Georgian period. 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. Alice Loxton's UPROAR! is a delight: an energetic and highly enjoyable exploration of the careers and the turmoil of the social and political world of the leading caricaturists of the great age of satire, Thomas Rowlandson, James Gillray, and Isaac Cruikshank. So rich is her research and so vivid is her prose that we emerge from reading this book feeling that we have argued, laughed and drunk punch with these men and felt the fierce brilliance of their minds and their art - which shines bright still today -- Jeremy Musson