Hatred and Civility: The Antisocial Life in Victorian England

This lively, accessible account of historical and literary works explains why many Victorians nursed a hostile vision of man and society and how misanthropy--once a means of conveying integrity and justified disdain of society's excesses--turned immoral and quasi-criminal. Delivering a surprising new perspective on the past, Christopher Lane shows that the fanatics troubling us today share many qualities with our supposedly moral ancestors.