Victorian Dundee: a city grown prosperous on more than a century's lead in linen production and for a time the world's jute capital - 'Juteopolis'. But textile production was accompanied by a strong sense of civic pride, some remarkable architectural triumphs and perhaps a surprising enthusiasm for public and private art.
The traditional view of Dundee in this period is of a grim industrial town marred by social deprivation and riven by workplace conflict. This was only part of the story, and comes later. Early Victorian Dundee provided regular work and better wages than had been paid in the countryside (many of the town's inhabitants were migrants). Working people enjoyed spending money as well as earning it and were able to enjoy a range of social amenities such as the town's grand parks.
This book, the first edition of which attracted very favourable reviews, reveals aspects of Dundee that have been hidden from history. This second, extended edition of Victorian Dundee: Image and Realities goes further than the 2000 edition in challenging myth-history. Included are two altogether new chapters. One is on the development - and desecration - of Dundee's ancient waterfront, resulting from the opening of new rail routes. The other reveals who Dundee' s local heroes were, in the shape of the public statues erected in Albert Square. Original chapters have been revised whilst in addition the book is supplemented by more than forty new illustrations that offer fresh and sometimes stunning visual perspectives on a great Scottish city.
This is the third in the series Dundee - A New History, the others being Jute No More: Transforming Dundee which span Dundee's history from the sixteenth century to the present. Dundee: Renaissance to Enlightenment.