The Power and the Glory : The Country House Before the Great War

Adrian Tinniswood opens the doors on the excess, intrigue and absurdities of life in the late Victorian and Edwardian country house

In the decades before the First World War, the owners of the nation’s stately homes revelled in a golden age of glory and glamour. This was a time when the ancestral seats of ancient nobility stood side by side with the fabulous palaces of Jewish bankers and Indian princes, when dukes and duchesses mixed with self-made millionaires and society hostesses who had learned to dance in the chorus line.

Adrian Tinniswood opens the doors to the country house during this glittering golden age, when – for the privileged few – life in the country house was the best life of all.

Author: Adrian Tinniswood

United Kingdom, Great Britain, c 1800 to c 1900, c 1900 - c 1914, Residential buildings, domestic buildings, British & Irish history, Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, Social & cultural history, First World War

Published on 2 Jul 2026 by Vintage Publishing.