Table of Contents:
  • Introduction: of novels, paintings, ngrams, and the middle class
  • Prelude: from austerity to sentimentality, 1750–1788
  • Part one: the sentimental era
  • Years of uncertainty, 1789–1819
  • Soaring spirits, 1820–1851
  • Retreat from the heights, 1852–1869
  • Part two: the genteel era
  • Cheerful towns, troubled cities, 1870–1890
  • The edifice crumbles, 1891–1919
  • Part three: the modern era
  • Businessmen, romantics, and rebels, 1920–1940
  • Anxious conformists, 1941–1960
  • Part four: the postmodern era
  • New realities, 1961–1990
  • Beset on all sides, 1991–2020
  • Conclusion.