Perspective

Author Otto Bettman is a German curator who emigrated to the United States in 1935. He started what would become the famous Bettman collection in Manhattan, a large collection of images. As an image archivist and someone deeply steeped in history, Bettman commands the sort of authority necessary for a history book of this type. Bettman was born in 1903, putting him in the generation just after the Victorian period he is dealing with. This close chronological connection also lends a sort of authority.

Bettman's prejudice, or at least authorial focus, is clearly stated in his introduction. Bettman has set out with this book to debunk the popular misconception that the American Victorian period (the 1860s to early-1900s) was a time of great culture, prosperity and achievement. Bettman argues that this period is not a Golden Age or "the good old days," but in fact the haze of time...