The book covers Prince Albert, Disraeli, Palmerston, Robert Peel, William Gladstone, Sir Charles James Napier, General Gordon, W. G. Grace, William Sleeman, Albert Dicey, Augustus Pugin, and Queen Victoria.

[1][2] Columnist A. N. Wilson called it "staggeringly silly" and "morally repellent",[3] while historian Richard J. Evans described it as "plodding, laborious, humourless and barely readable".

[2] Dominic Sandbrook, reviewing the book for The Sunday Times, described it as "bad, boring and mind‑bogglingly banal".

[5][6] However, the historian Andrew Roberts described the book as "a full-throated, clear-sighted, well-researched and extremely well-written exposition of the Victorians and their values".

This article about a non-fiction book on history of the United Kingdom or its predecessor states is a stub.