All the Rage

In All the Rage, the incomparable Virginia Nicholson, shaped and armed by her unconventional childhood among the Bloomsbury Set, is unafraid of skewering the social conventions that bound her generation. The tragedy of the myth of beauty, as Nicholson shows, is that it was never a myth. I love her writing * Amanda Foreman *A scintillating survey of the changing face of beauty … bold in its scope, yet filled with intriguing details and thoughtful, original analysis. * Justine Picardie *Nicholson’s lively, intimate history of beauty … All the Rage sits you at the dressing table of history: a place of dreams, doubts, self-harm and hopes. – Sarah Ditum * Sunday Times *This is a fascinating book: funny, unexpected, forgiving, political, personal, glamorous and yes, quietly, angry. – Louisa Young * Prospect *Wonderfully engaging * Harper’s Bazaar *Virginia Nicholson’s history of modern women’s dedication to their appearance is full of ironies… She is particularly good on how a body looks when styled according to the fashions and expectations of an era… A compelling account of how … women are moulded by dominant ideals * Literary Review *An unforgettably rich and varied tapestry of the development of female beauty anxiety. – Ysenda Maxtone Graham * Daily Mail *All the Rage is a perfect title for a book about terrible beauty … Nicholson’s research, and her talent for shaping her vast material into a compelling, thoughtful tale, are most impressive. * Spectator *

Virginia Nicholson is the author of Among the Bohemians: Experiments in Living 1900-1939, Singled Out: How Two Million Women Survived Without Men After the First World War, Millions Like Us: Women’s Lives in War and Peace 1939-1949, Perfect Wives in Ideal Homes: The Story of Women in the 1950s, How Was It For You? Women, Sex, Love and Power in the 1960s as well as Charleston: A Bloomsbury House and Garden. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Nicholson is the granddaughter of Vanessa Bell and the great-niece of Virginia Woolf, and is the President of the Charleston Trust, and a trustee of the Strachey Trust.

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