Mr Barry's War
Subtitle Rebuilding the Houses of Parliament after the Great Fire of 1834
By Caroline Shenton
Published by
Oxford University Press
ISBN 9780198707196
Category History
Spring 2017
Synopsis
The saga of the epic battle to re-build the Houses of Parliament after the great fire of 1834, this is also the story of how the greatest construction programme in Britain for centuries produced one of the most famous and instantly recognizable buildings ever built.
Author's Biography
Caroline Shenton was Director of the Parliamentary Archives at Westminster from 2008 to 2014, and prior to that was a senior archivist at Parliament and The National Archives at Kew. Her first book, The Day Parliament Burned Down, won the inaugural Political Book of the Year Award in 2013. It was also shortlisted for a number of other prizes, including the Longman-History Today Prize, and was a Book of the Year for the Daily Telegraph, New Statesman, Daily Mail, and Herald Scotland. This is its sequel.
Reviews
An achievement as intricate and splendid as Mr Barry's own. Superb. - Lucy Worsley
This beautifully crafted book walks us through a tumultuous fragment of our history, deftly illuminating every extraordinary step — the rivalries, the soaring ambitions, the barely-hid betrayals, the spectacular personal suffering. As the new Palace of Westminster rose from the ruins of the old it was at times dwarfed by the personal battles that lay behind its creation. This is politics laid on with a mason's trowel. - Lord Michael Dobbs, author of House of Cards
Price ££25.00
Reader Comments
Brilliant follow up to the award winning The Day Parliament Burned Down!
More than the story of the rebuilding, which is fascinating enough, it provides rich anecdotes along the way, interweaving the lives of those involved and the history of the time.
A great read - fascinating!