“The Victorian Eye is a spectacular debut. Meticulously researched, theoretically imaginative, and elegantly written, it should be read by all those interested in the histories of vision, technology, the environment, and liberal government. A thoughtful, provocative, and often funny book, this is history as it should be written.”

James Vernon, author of Hunger: A Modern History

“This excellent volume offers an important new historicist interpretation of the interaction of technology, vision, and power in the late nineteenth century. Otter dexterously evinces the new socio-technical patterns of perception that emerged in the British liberal state as its urban environments were transformed by the arrival of gas and electric lighting. This work is essential reading, especially for those dissatisfied with twentieth-century clichés of the panopticon and the flâneur as modes of appreciating the nexus of materiality, mobility, and management in civic life.”

Graeme Gooday, University of Leeds

“Otter’s analysis is complex as he moves from one technology or institution to another, but it is always lucid and well informed. . . . The study ranges across a wide and eclectic array of British urban spaces, technologies and institutions, and every page is consistently readable and stimulating."

Times Higher Education

"A rich history full of previously understudied spaces, objects and connections. . . . In leaving the focus on surveillance and spectacle aside, the breadth of topics of historical interest increases dramatically. In this regard, The Victorian Eye should be commended for its originality and ambition."

Jimena Canales | British Journal for the History of Science