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Arts and Minds: How the Royal Society of Arts Changed a Nation
A history of the extraordinary society that has touched all aspects of British life
From its beginnings in a coffee house in the mid-eighteenth century, the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce has tried to improve British life in every way imaginable. It has sought to influence how Britons work, how they are educated, the music they listen to, the food they eat, the items in their homes, and even how they remember their own history. Arts and Minds is the remarkable story of an institution unlike any other—a society for the improvement of everything and anything.
Drawing on exclusive access to a wealth of rare papers and artefacts from the Society's own archives, Anton Howes shows how this vibrant and singularly ambitious organisation has evolved and adapted, constantly having to reinvent itself to keep in step with changing times. The Society has served as a platform for Victorian utilitarian reformers, purchased and restored an entire village, encouraged the planting of more than sixty million trees, and sought technological alternatives to child labour. But this is more than just a story about unusual public initiatives. It is an engaging and authoritative history of almost three centuries of social reform and competing visions of a better world—the Society's members have been drawn from across the political spectrum, including Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, and Karl Marx.
Informative and entertaining, Arts and Minds reveals how a society of public-spirited individuals tried to make their country a better place, and draws vital lessons from their triumphs and failures for all would-be reformers today.
From its beginnings in a coffee house in the mid-eighteenth century, the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce has tried to improve British life in every way imaginable. It has sought to influence how Britons work, how they are educated, the music they listen to, the food they eat, the items in their homes, and even how they remember their own history. Arts and Minds is the remarkable story of an institution unlike any other—a society for the improvement of everything and anything.
Drawing on exclusive access to a wealth of rare papers and artefacts from the Society's own archives, Anton Howes shows how this vibrant and singularly ambitious organisation has evolved and adapted, constantly having to reinvent itself to keep in step with changing times. The Society has served as a platform for Victorian utilitarian reformers, purchased and restored an entire village, encouraged the planting of more than sixty million trees, and sought technological alternatives to child labour. But this is more than just a story about unusual public initiatives. It is an engaging and authoritative history of almost three centuries of social reform and competing visions of a better world—the Society's members have been drawn from across the political spectrum, including Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, and Karl Marx.
Informative and entertaining, Arts and Minds reveals how a society of public-spirited individuals tried to make their country a better place, and draws vital lessons from their triumphs and failures for all would-be reformers today.
416 pages, Hardcover
Published May 12, 2020
11 people are currently reading
330 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 9, 2020
A fascinating and well-written history of a society that many Brits may not know by name, yet has impacted their lives in ways both large and small through its nurturing of ideas, innovations and movements over nearly three centuries. Found myself absorbed in Anton Howes's rich storytelling and couldn't put it down!
September 8, 2020
Dr Howes writes in an engaging and refreshing manner, and describes a topic that I had never really considered before in an engrossing and accessible fashion.
Arts and Minds is clearly very well researched, and presents the history of the Royal Society of Arts in a manner that is both highly engaging and informative throughout.
Anton perfectly captures the feel of the eras that capture the Societies founding and development, giving real insights into the thoughts, aims and desires of its founders and members. For something that I had never learnt about either in school or elsewhere, the Society had an enormous impact on Britain and the wider world, having a pivotal role in bringing us to where we are today.
Howes fills an important gap in our understanding of ourselves and our past, and does so in a way that isn't just informative and accessible to the lay reader but is actually gripping. A fantastic read, definitely one to buy two copies of as you won't want to lend your one out!
Arts and Minds is clearly very well researched, and presents the history of the Royal Society of Arts in a manner that is both highly engaging and informative throughout.
Anton perfectly captures the feel of the eras that capture the Societies founding and development, giving real insights into the thoughts, aims and desires of its founders and members. For something that I had never learnt about either in school or elsewhere, the Society had an enormous impact on Britain and the wider world, having a pivotal role in bringing us to where we are today.
Howes fills an important gap in our understanding of ourselves and our past, and does so in a way that isn't just informative and accessible to the lay reader but is actually gripping. A fantastic read, definitely one to buy two copies of as you won't want to lend your one out!
November 14, 2020
Anton Howes has a gift for writing about the history of innovation, not just how things are invented, but how they spread to change our lives. (If you're interested enough in the subject to be reading this review, you should go to (https://antonhowes.substack.com/ and subscribe to his substack RIGHT NOW before you keep reading. Did it? Good.)
The RSA is a one-of-a kind institution, not quite a learned society, but interested in spreading learning. Not a museum or gallery, but interested in making the arts flourish. Not quite an export agency, but certainly wishing to see trade prosper. Not quite a club, but at time a place to see and be seen.
These multiple facets makes a book about the RSA a great opportunity to explore how innovations and improvements, both technical but also in what causes are worthy, can change a nation, and how groups of determined people, bent of doing the public good can have durable impacts.
Thoroughly enjoyable read, only gave it 5 stars because you can't give six.
The RSA is a one-of-a kind institution, not quite a learned society, but interested in spreading learning. Not a museum or gallery, but interested in making the arts flourish. Not quite an export agency, but certainly wishing to see trade prosper. Not quite a club, but at time a place to see and be seen.
These multiple facets makes a book about the RSA a great opportunity to explore how innovations and improvements, both technical but also in what causes are worthy, can change a nation, and how groups of determined people, bent of doing the public good can have durable impacts.
Thoroughly enjoyable read, only gave it 5 stars because you can't give six.
July 1, 2022
I love this concise history of the Royal Society of Arts and how it influenced art, science, and industry in England. The early chapters are particularly compelling in their discussion of the founding of the Society, the establishment of prizes for research and art and the evolving dynamic between patrons, inventors, artists, and culture. From its beginning, the Society addressed several important questions--how might we incentivize innovation? How might we leverage research for the greater good? (And what IS the greater good?) How might we support art to improve tase and culture? (And what does improve mean?) The answers to these questions change over time, and Howes does a marvelous job using the Royal Society as a lens to examine that change.
March 22, 2021
Fun overview of an influential group I'd never heard of before reading! Besides a fascinating account of the lives and desires of a number of eccentric individuals, I thoroughly enjoyed Howes' description of the trends in ideas and policies throughout centuries that have shaped the world today.
July 24, 2020
An insightful record of what propelled utilitarian innovations in industrious Britain and the context that allowed them.
After the Great Exhibitions part becomes somewhat tedious and hard to read.
After the Great Exhibitions part becomes somewhat tedious and hard to read.
June 21, 2021
Covers what it promises. I was really only interested in the time period up until late 1800s but it goes past that, accurately if not too interestingly.
August 15, 2021
Good overview of the society, its history, and how it's changed over the years. That last bit was probably the most interesting bit actually.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews