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Books

The 1850s: a dizzying decade of boom and bust

Ben Wilson’s Heyday describes many thrilling advances in world communication and travel — and fortunes made and lost in the gold rush

26 March 2016

9:00 AM

26 March 2016

9:00 AM

Heyday: Britain and the Birth of the Modern World Ben Wilson

Weidenfeld, pp.462, £25, ISBN: 9780297864103

We can all identify decades in which the world moved forward. Wars are not entirely negative experiences: the social and technological advances of the 1910s and 1940s are obvious. Ben Wilson has been more thoughtful, and has chosen the 1850s — or, more specifically, the years from 1851 to 1862.

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