High Minds

Heffer has written a stunning overview of the great and the good – and the not-so-good – of Victorian society and of the changes which a largely benevolent capitalism brought about. * Sarah Bradford, The Literary Review *High Minds is worthy to the task: serious, scholarly, grand and determined…an excellent guide to the aesthetics of the age. * Tristram Hunt, New Statesman *[I]t is really a whole bookshelf of books. If you want a succinct volume on the Clarendon Commission and the debates on education, there is a not-so-slim volume embedded here. There is another on the desperate case of the formidable Caroline Norton and the battle to give women rights…another on the great philanthropists; another on crime and punishment; another (wonderfully detailed and compelling) on the Great Exhibition and the foundation of Albertopolis; another on the sewers; a terrific essay on the struggle between Gothic and Italianate architecture; and of course plenty of politics…This is a great sweeping, confident book, demonstrating the self-same energy and passion as do the Victorian heroes Heffer celebrates. It is a magnificent achievement. * William Waldegrave, The Times *[A] stimulating and thoroughly enjoyable book…[Heffer] is sometimes tendentious but never unreasonable, writes notably well and provides an admirable introduction to a period of history which many of us will think that we know quite well but have never considered from this point of view before. * Philip Ziegler, The Spectator *High Minds is partly social history, partly a history of ideas. It is the personalities involved that contribute such liveliness to this assured and magisterial narrative. * Matthew Dennison, The Sunday Telegraph *There is something enormously refreshing about reading a history book with such a passionate moral agenda, as well as one with such scope, energy and intellectual clarity. High Minds is a book Heffer’s heroes would have loved – and perhaps there is no higher compliment than that. * Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times *[A]bsolutely riveting … As dramatic as he is bold, as droll as he insightful, Heffer keeps his foot firmly on the throttle throughout, ensuring the narrative never flags. * John Preston, Daily Mail *Magnificent… [A] gloriously detailed narrative. – S J D Green * Standpoint *This important book provides a detailed overview of 40 years in the Victorian era in which British life was transformed beyond recognition … The book demonstrates a depth of research … letting the evidence speak for itself … this pacy account will have you gripped. * Daily Mail *A rich, readable and unashamedly moralistic anti-Strachey. * Sunday Times *

Simon Heffer was born in 1960. He read English at Cambridge and took a PhD at that university in modern history. His previous books include Moral Desperado: A Life of Thomas Carlyle, Like the Roman: The Life of Enoch Powell, Nor Shall My Sword: The Reinvention of England, Vaughan Williams, the highly successful Strictly English and A Short History of Power. In a career of nearly 30 years in Fleet Street he has written columns for and held senior positions on the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph and the Spectator.

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