Kathryn Hughes CATLAND HB : Feline Enchantment & the Making of the Modern World

Shortlisted for the Pol Roger Duff Cooper PrizeA Times and Sunday Times Book of the YearA Wall Street Journal Book of the YearA Spectator Book of the YearA Times Literary Supplement Book of the YearA New Yorker Book of the YearSome called it a craze. To others it was a cult. Join prizewinning historian Kathryn Hughes to discover how Britain fell in love with cats and ushered in a new era. Smart, gorgeously written cultural history TLSDelightful GuardianExcellent SpectatorJoyous cultural history The TimesHe invented a whole cat world declared H. G. Wells of Louis Wain, the Edwardian artist whose anthropomorphic kittens made him a household name. His drawings were irresistible but Catland was more than the creation of one eccentric imagination. It was an attitude a way of being in society while discreetly refusing to follow its rules. As cat capitalism boomed in the spectacular Edwardian age, prized animals changed hands for hundreds of pounds and a new industry sprung up to cater for their every need. Cats were no longer basementdwelling pestcontrollers, but stylish cultural subversives, more likely to flaunt a magnificent ruff and a pedigree from Persia. Wherever you found old conventions breaking down, there was a cat at the centre of the storm. Whether they were flying aeroplanes, sipping champagne or arguing about politics, Wains feline cast offered a sly take on the restless and risky culture of the postVictorian world. Noone experienced these uncertainties more acutely... | Kathryn Hughes CATLAND HB : Feline Enchantment & the Making of the Modern World