London 1772: a young artist called Thomas Rowlandson is making his way through the grimy
backstreets of the capital on his way to begin his studies at the Royal Academy Schools.
Within a few years James Gillray and Isaac Cruikshank would join him in Piccadilly turning
satire into an artform taking on the British establishment and forever changing the way we
view power. Set against a backdrop of royal madness political intrigue the birth of modern
celebrity French revolution American independence and the Napoleonic Wars UPROAR! follows
the satirists as they lampoon those in power from the Prince Regent to Georgiana Duchess of
Devonshire. Their prints and illustrations deconstruct the political and social landscape with
surreal and razor-sharp wit as the three men vie with each other to create the most iconic
images of the day. Alice Loxton's writing fizzes with energy on every page and never fails to
convince us that Gillray and his gang profoundly altered British humour setting the stage for
everything from Gilbert and Sullivan to Private Eye and Spitting Image today. This is a book
that will cause readers to reappraise everything they think they know about genteel Georgian
London and see it for what it was - a time of UPROAR!
