Book review - Trailblazing Georgians

Trailblazing Georgians: The Unsung Men Who Helped Shape the Modern World by Mike Rendell.

* A huge thank you to Rosie at Pen & Sword Books for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review. I am very grateful. It is safe to say that Pen & Sword are one of my favourite publishers and it is always amazing to be sent one of their books!

‘… the people featured have been treated shabbily by history and they have been denied the fame which their efforts justified.’

This book features some of the forgotten men, the less famous inventors, artists, engineers and industrialists who played their part in the enormous changes that occurred in the eighteenth century. Before you assume that Mike Rendell has neglected the women of the eighteenth century, I previously reviewed the excellent Trailblazing Women of the Georgian Era: The Eighteenth-Century Struggle for Female Success in a Man’s World, by the same author. Read Here

‘… by concentrating on the already well known, we lose sight of the fact that many of the changes were made slowly in stages. It was not so much an industrial revolution as an industrial evolution…’

I was very much looking forward to reading this book - which I feel is an important read. There were some familiar names such as John Baskerville, Christopher Pinchbeck and Erasmus Darwin, but there were also some names I hadn’t heard of before. As always Rendell’s books are entertaining, exquisitely written, and impeccably researched. Trailblazing Georgians is under 200 pages long and the way it is set out means that it is easy to dip in and out of. Each chapter includes several men with a small biography of their life and work. Chapters included are:

The Ground Breakers

The Heavy Metal Merchants

A Pair of Lunaticks

The Faux Merchants

Working in the Great Outdoors

Scientific Endeavours

Entertainments and the Arts

Schemers Dreamers – and a Pair of Potters

Washday Blues and the Green, Green Grass of Home.

‘By and large, the people mentioned in this book played a vital part in how the world took shape in the eighteenth century.’

Although I had heard of some of the thirty men mentioned, I didn’t have much previous knowledge about them. They were so talented and part of the huge changes that took place in the eighteenth century, yet somehow they slipped into obscurity. It is very unjust how they narrowly missed out on the sort of fame that Josiah Wedgwood, Samuel Johnson, and David Garrick enjoyed, even though their contributions were just as important. Those featured in Trailblazing Georgians helped shape our modern world, and much like the women of Trailblazing Women of the Georgian Era, I am once again so pleased that these remarkable, but forgotten people are getting their moment in the spotlight, thanks to this book. I highly recommend this insightful read!

Get your copy Here