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D. J. Taylor
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Bright Young People: The Rise and Fall of a Generation 1918-1940 Kindle Edition

by D J Taylor (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 58 ratings
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Bright Young People/ Making the most of our youth/ They talk in the Press of our social success/ But quite the reverse is the truth. [Noel Coward]

The Bright Young People were one of the most extraordinary youth cults in British history. A pleasure-seeking band of bohemian party-givers and blue-blooded socialites, they romped through the 1920s gossip columns. Evelyn Waugh dramatised their antics in Vile Bodies and many of them, such as Anthony Powell, Nancy Mitford,Cecil Beaton and John Betjeman, later became household names. Their dealings with the media foreshadowed our modern celebrity culture and even today,we can detect their influence in our cultural life.


But the quest for pleasure came at a price. Beneath the parties and practical jokes was a tormented generation, brought up in the shadow of war, whose relationships - with their parents and with each other - were prone to fracture. For many, their progress through the 'serious' Thirties, when the age of parties was over and another war hung over the horizon, led only to drink, drugs and disappointment, and in the case of Elizabeth Ponsonby - whose story forms a central strand of this book - to a family torn apart by tragedy.


Moving from the Great War to the Blitz, Bright Young People is both a chronicle of England's 'lost generation' of the Jazz Age, and a panoramic portrait of a world that could accommodate both dizzying success and paralysing failure. Drawing on the writings and reminiscences of the Bright Young People themselves, D.J. Taylor has produced an enthralling social and cultural history, a definitive portrait of a vanished age.

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  1. Print length
    468 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Vintage Digital
  4. Publication date
    30 Sept. 2010
  5. File size
    5.9 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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From the Publisher

Vintage Brand: Read Boldly, Think Differently.

Product description

Review

Taylor writes with such skill and aplomb that it's impossible not to be swept along by the intelligence and observations (Guardian)

Review

`his engaging portrait of another age'

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0049B2CBQ
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage Digital (30 Sept. 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 5.9 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 468 pages
  • Customer reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 58 ratings

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D. J. Taylor

D. J. Taylor

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Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
58 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book interesting and well-researched. They appreciate the author's compilation of existing publications on the topic. However, some find the print size too small and the font too small.

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ReadabilityResearch qualityWriting qualityPrint size
6 customers mention ‘Readability’6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book interesting and enlightening. They say it's worth purchasing if your local library has it.

"This is a brilliant anatomy of 'the Bright Brigade' - that generation of eccentric, aristocratic and moneyed young men and women who partied their..." Read more

"...I found it enlightening and amusing...." Read more

"...written, and if you are a fan of the 1920's, as I am, it's well worth purchasing if your local library doesn't carry it." Read more

"Interesting book but a bit heavy going and very small print." Read more

5 customers mention ‘Research quality’5 positive0 negative

Customers find the book well-researched and enlightening. They appreciate the author's compilation of existing publications on the topic.

"...The book is extremely well researched and beautifully written, as one would expect given that the author is both a distinguished biographer..." Read more

"...I found it enlightening and amusing...." Read more

"...The author has done a good job of compiling existing publications on this topic, along with his own research...." Read more

"...Well researched and written. I just wish the print was a bit bigger, but then I suppose, the book would be twice the size. You can't have everything." Read more

4 customers mention ‘Writing quality’4 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the writing quality of the book. They find it well-written and enjoyable, especially if you are a fan of the 1920s.

"...The book is extremely well researched and beautifully written, as one would expect given that the author is both a distinguished biographer..." Read more

"...This book is well written, and if you are a fan of the 1920's, as I am, it's well worth purchasing if your local library doesn't carry it." Read more

"...Well researched and written. I just wish the print was a bit bigger, but then I suppose, the book would be twice the size. You can't have everything." Read more

"...looking forward to this book Audi as?not disappointed very well written and moving the people we've portrayed honestlywith sensitivity I loved it" Read more

3 customers mention ‘Print size’0 positive3 negative

Customers find the print size and font too small.

"Interesting book but a bit heavy going and very small print." Read more

"...Overall a very poor re/print? The font is small, (I have fairly good eyesight), and there are repetitions of sentences within the text...." Read more

"...Well researched and written. I just wish the print was a bit bigger, but then I suppose, the book would be twice the size. You can't have everything." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • Book Lover
    5.0 out of 5 stars Bright Young Bohemians
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 July 2009
    Verified Purchase
    This is a brilliant anatomy of 'the Bright Brigade' - that generation of eccentric, aristocratic and moneyed young men and women who partied their lives away with such determined frivolity in the decade and a half after the Great War before the Depression, Fascism and another looming international conflict was to bring them crashing back down to earth. The book is extremely well researched and beautifully written, as one would expect given that the author is both a distinguished biographer (of Orwell and Thackeray) and a fine novelist. But what really struck me was the fact that Taylor is not in the least judgemental about these brittle young Bohemeians and their silly escapades. Instead of showing them to be dissolute and unsympathetic he reveals the sense of melancholy and futility that lay beneath their lives with the unceasing round of parties and 'amusing' entertainments. More importantly Taylor reveals the literary legacy that this lost generation has left behind, notably in the novels of Waugh, Powell and Nancy Mitford. If you're interested in the glamorous and eccentric personalities of the 1920s and early 30s then this excellent book is for you.
    23 people found this helpful
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  • Mrs. R.
    4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Times
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 December 2007
    Verified Purchase
    If we think that it's a new thing, the way that the gutter press and gossip mags now are obsessed with celebrity, we're wrong. The Bright Young People were there first. I bought this book after reading a review, because I'm interested in one particular person in one particular photograph. I found it enlightening and amusing. The Bright Young People that Taylor writes about were few; no doubt a lot of hangers on described themselves as Bright Young People during and after the event, but this book is about the epicentre, the small group of partygoers who started the trend then either took a back seat, left the country or were destroyed by it. The book concentrates on the essence of the movement, if that's what it was, the people at the heart of it, actual events and the people the newspapers wrote about. It doesn't truly describe a whole generation, just the ones who defined it and the waves they made.
    Reading about them, I can see the influence they had on my working class, northern great aunt who gave up a good job as a cook to train as a secretary in London so she could go out dancing in the 1920s. She must have read about them in the press and wanted a part of it. She went on to run the factory that made rivets for Spitfires, then to help at a refugee camp in Italy, spoke four languages and judged dogs at Crufts. The Bright Young People seem to have unleashed a spirit of defiance of convention that spread amongst their generation then was crushed by mid century hardship and censorship. It makes me want to reread Waugh and watch Stephen Fry's Bright Young Things with a better understanding of their list of players.
    There have always been upper class scoundrels, fritterers, debtors, drunks, sluts and fallen angels; for me, the way the press and contemporary novelists documented this particular group has the most relevance to present times.
    70 people found this helpful
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  • D. Martin
    5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting,for people who like the 1920's.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 May 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Although keeping up with the cast of characters can be a bit confusing and pondersome at times, I like this book very much. The author has done a good job of compiling existing publications on this topic, along with his own research. I thought that one of the main persons discussed, Elizabeth Ponsonsby, could have been the model for Sebastian Flyte of "Brideshead Revisited". Like Sebastian, she was viable only in her youth, during the 1920's after which time, alcoholism and carelessness went out of fashion. There are many more interesting people in the book, most about whom information is very hard to find. This book is well written, and if you are a fan of the 1920's, as I am, it's well worth purchasing if your local library doesn't carry it.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Anastasia
    3.0 out of 5 stars Worth a read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 February 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Interesting book but a bit heavy going and very small print.
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  • anita clemens
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 December 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Very interesting reading
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  • WrathofKhan
    1.0 out of 5 stars Poor quality, unreadable
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 February 2023
    Verified Purchase
    For the price this book is very poor quality. Overall a very poor re/print? The font is small, (I have fairly good eyesight), and there are repetitions of sentences within the text. In addition, the illustration plates are of inferior quality making it very difficult to see whose who in the photographs. Had to go online whilst reading this book to match the characters with the authors description. In any event it’s going back for a refund.
    One person found this helpful
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  • c manners
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 August 2014
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    very good fast delivery. very pleased.
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  • Fogerty
    4.0 out of 5 stars For those interested in the period 1900-1940
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 July 2013
    Verified Purchase
    I bought this on the basis of a television programme I saw and D.J. Taylor was one of those narrating. Well researched and written. I just wish the print was a bit bigger, but then I suppose, the book would be twice the size. You can't have everything.
    2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Patricia
    3.0 out of 5 stars These "Bright Young People" have more money than brains.
    Reviewed in the United States on 9 August 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Well researched stories about rich young adults in the 20s & early 30s in the UK. No regard for other people or their property. A big problem is with the edition I received. The font was so small, I could not read some of the captions even with a magnifying glass! And the stories about these "kids" got old after a while. The booze and drugs - just went on and on. They partied on during the early days of the depression, when men were out of work, women and children suffered. These stories, I guess, had to be told. And the author was clearly dedicated to accuracy. Left me depressed.
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  • incorthum
    5.0 out of 5 stars Professionelle Transaktion
    Reviewed in Germany on 20 June 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Sehr unterhaltsam und informativ
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