{"product_id":"9781250048899","title":"Queen Victoria: A Life of Contradictions","description":"\u003cp\u003eQueen Victoria is Britain's queen of contradictions. In her combination of deep sentimentality and bombast; cultural imperialism and imperial compassion; fear of intellectualism and excitement at technology; romanticism and prudishness, she became a spirit of the age to which she gave her name.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eVictoria embraced photography, railway travel and modern art; she resisted compulsory education for the working classes, recommended for a leading women's rights campaigner ‘a good whipping' and detested smoking. She may or may not have been amused.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMeanwhile she reinvented the monarchy and wrestled with personal reinvention. She lived in the shadow of her mother and then under the tutelage of her husband; finally she embraced self-reliance during her long widowhood. Fresh, witty and accessible, Matthew Dennison's \u003ci\u003eQueen Victoria\u003c\/i\u003e is a compelling assessment of Victoria's mercurial character and impact, written with the irony, flourish and insight that this Queen and her rule so richly deserve.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"St. Martin's Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47030419128560,"sku":"9781250048899","price":22.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781250048899_p0.jpg?v=1763761291","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781250048899","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}