Award-winning English biographer and historian Peter Ackroyd shows what growing up during Dickens' time would really have been like, with no glamorization of the harsh circumstances that the author confronted. Ackroyd examines the social issues about which Dickens felt strongly and also provides a comprehensive overview of the mood which prevailed in the Dickensian era, paying special attention to the railroad and other outgrowths of the Industrial Revolution.