2007-10-07 the reality of history

Sir Joseph Bazalgette has long been one of my greatest historical heroes. Indeed, he always will be, and his achievement regarding the sewers of London must rank as one of the greatest engineering successes of Victorian London. It certainly ended the cholera plagues in a way that no medical knowledge did. I knew that the project must have been a logistical nightmare, but the author picks away at the fabric of social pride, allowing the reader to glimpse the underlying politics and suffering beneath, in a minutely detailed, fascinating way. To me, history is the sociology of the past,and this view of the foundations of Victorian society is a sombre lesson that we would do well to remember- "it's the rich wot gets the money, and the poor wot gets the blame." Ain't it all a bleeding shame?