A richly detailed portrait of British society at the moment of Queen Victoria's accession, surveying political life, urban and rural customs, and the expanding empire. Chapters treat the year 1837, London streets, class relations, domestic routines, schooling, entertainments, clubs and journalism, sport, industry and mining, scientific pursuits, and law and justice, the latter contributed by a legal colleague. The text contrasts lingering eighteenth-century habits with nineteenth-century innovations such as steam, railways, and telegraphy, using anecdotes and contemporary illustrations to illuminate manners, institutions, and everyday objects while reflecting on social change.