Noble Ambitions

[A] preposterously entertaining history of the postwar country house... reading it is rather like leafing through an old leather-bound Smythson address book whose well-connected owner has helpfully added waspish notes, gossip and the odd family tree. In other words, it's heaven. -- Rachel Cooke * Observer * Adrian Tinniswood's rollicking study perfectly captures the combination of decadence, pathos and brazen cheek that kept the English country house alive when it faced disaster. -- John Walsh * Sunday Times * [A] brilliant new history of the country house since 1945... Tinniswood tells...[the] story superbly, his racy anecdotes mined not just from the usual memoirs, but from a studious trawl of endless local papers. -- Marcus Binney * Daily Telegraph * Beautifully orchestrated... a compulsive read, deliciously voyeuristic and yet a triumph of meticulous social and cultural scholarship. * Country Life * A vastly entertaining account of the crisis that befell England's stately homes in the decades immediately after the war. -- Simon Heffer * Daily Telegraph, *Books of the Year* * Tinniswood...[is] an erudite historian of country-house life in all its anecdote-worthy vagaries. -- Miranda Seymour * Financial Times * As this beautifully illustrated volume shows, the 1950s and the 1960s saw a renaissance as rock concerts replaced hunt balls and the doors of ancient family seats were thrown open to paying customers. Tinniswood chronicles it all in lively detail. -- Nick Rennison * Daily Mail * By turns warm, sympathetic, sly and analytical, Tinniswood examines the complex history of the post-war country house with skill, grace, clarity - and charity. A triumph. -- Judith Flanders Tinniswood's meticulously researched and entertaining study...provides a brilliant insight into a much overlooked period. Few authors can combine serious social history with the sometimes sad and often hilarious narratives of country-house life in the way that Tinniswood can. -- Jeremy Musson [A] highly enjoyable, gossipy read with a gasp on every page; a must for the bedside tables of every guest bedroom, and every stately home gift shop. -- Mary S. Lovell