Those Were The Days...

For anyone who recently caught re-runs of PBS's Manor House, there's an interesting book you might want to check out to supplement your viewing. Judith Flanders's Inside The Victorian Home is a page-turning nonfiction account of what the daily life of a typical middle-class British citizen might have been like in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Flanders starts with childbirth, ends with funeral rituals and covers almost any imaginable topic in between, from likely contents of a kitchen cupboard to the endless (sometimes pointless) chores of a maid-of-all-work. On just about every page of this book are strange and fascinating tidbits that will likely make you feel quite relieved that you live in the 21st century. (Despite the awesome dresses, it wasn't as glamorous as movie versions of that era depict.) -- Amy

Test your knowledge of life in the Manor House here.