Hardwick uses the finctional story of the Bellamy family that starred in the popular television "Upstairs, Downstairs" as a base to create an immensely readable and enjoyable text that is richly illustrated. The era of Queen Victoria's reign to just before World War I was an age of excess for rich and poor. The crowded tenement houses and dismal working conditions of the poor contrasted with the gaudy lives of the privileged classes. Then came WW1 and the greatest upheaval of the British Empire. The war marked the beginning of the diminishing of one of the strictest caste systems in history. Book has some foxing of page edges, and yellowing. Jacket has some raggediness around the edges. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. NY. 1976. Hb, Dj. USED. $3.00