Contains essays that address a wide range of subjects, including religion, politics, history, science, art, socialism, and feminism, by eminent figures of the Victorian era. This title reflects what the author terms 'the spirit of the age', one that she characterises as contentious as well as earnest, given to high aspirations and convictions.
An examination of the hero figure in the stories of two major Victorian authors of children's literature and the complex way in which they engaged with the dominant ideologies of the time.