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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Hard Times
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(1854) Novel by *Dickens, serialized in Household Words from April 1854. It contrasts the worlds of Fact and Fancy. Materialism is heavily satirized in the person of Thomas Gradgrind, a merchant of Coketown who brings up his children on supposedly utilitarian principles: the book opens with his peremptory words 'Now what I want is Facts', and he enlarges the theme later with the statement 'Facts alone are wanted in life'. A diet of hard Facts brings misery and stunted emotions to Gradgrind's children, by contrast with the warm Fancy to be found with Sissy Jupe and among the members of Sleary's circus troupe.
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