Hannah Greig's book on The Beau Monde provides an engaging analysis of the sumptuous, tempestuous, and (quite literally) glittering lives and experiences of British elites in the eighteenth century. Greig's work is premised on the very important assertion that “the culture of the ‘beau monde’ was much more than an expression of elite frivolity. It was the new manifestation of social distinction and a new form of social leadership” (31). Historians have tended to dismiss elite culture in the eighteenth century as decadent, silly, and for the most part unworthy of analytical consideration. But Greig's book deftly overturns these patronizing assumptions, demonstrating that the fashions, dress, homes, and writings of the members of the beau monde—many of whom were elite women—are deserving of careful scholarly attention.

Greig's study comprises six chapters. The author first considers the ways in which members of the beau monde “branded” themselves through the strategic display of dress, jewelry, candlelight, houses, and furniture. Greig's considerations of jewelry—in which she describes the setting and exchange of diamond ornaments—and of candles—in which she explains the quality of light afforded by tallow versus beeswax tapers—are especially excellent, because both serve to demonstrate the many ways in which members of the beau monde sought to exhibit themselves. Bright, pure light and sparkling jewels drew early modern eyes to the bodies of beau monde people, and Greig argues that this type of exhibition was both deliberate and political. The author goes on to explore the locations in which the dazzling bodies of the beau monde were situated, showing how attendance at operas, plays, and pleasure gardens served to draw attention to these high-status individuals and to provide them with spaces in which they could socialize and negotiate. The next two chapters of Greig's book examine the political influence of the beau monde, showing how politics and sociability intertwined in the eighteenth century. Careful consideration of the spaces of both Parliament and court buildings allows Grieg to demonstrate that, as beau monde women and men moved through these rooms, they made subtle but meaningful statements about their political affiliations. One of the most insightful discussions in this section examines the ways that elite people navigated royal residences. Greig shows that the most politically powerful individuals were those who were allowed the closest proximity to the monarch, but that progress toward the king or queen was just as meaningful as presence in their company; as higher-status elites walked through the rooms that led to the ruler's “with-drawing room,” they differentiated themselves from the lower-status elites who watched jealously from the sidelines of the yards, staircases, presence chambers, and privy chambers of the rest of the palace (113). As Greig shows so well, membership in the beau monde was predicated as much upon show, display, and distinction as it was upon socioeconomic status.

The final section of Greig's book considers entry into and exit from the beau monde. Although membership in the beau monde may have been presented in the eighteenth century as “natural,” organic to those individuals in possession of beauty, politeness, and breeding, it was in fact a matter of constant performance. Through the use of carefully selected case studies, Greig illustrates that female and male members of this world were held to different standards and that the “theoretically fluid boundaries” of this elite world were in fact strictly monitored as well as gendered (193). Although extramarital affairs were considered to be relatively acceptable, women who gave birth to illegitimate children—those whose bodies betrayed their supposed indiscretions—were exiled from political and social society. And men who were unable to gain mastery over the bodies of female conquests—such as Edward Smith Stanley, twelfth Earl of Derby, who sought unsuccessfully to establish a sexual relationship with the actress Elizabeth Farren—were subjected to ridicule, by members of the beau monde as well as by the British press and public at large.

The complicated role played by the press and the public in creating and maintaining the beau monde is a critical, although at times underexplored, aspect of Greig's book. The author demonstrates that the beau monde monitored carefully the behaviors and appearances of other elite people; she also shows that the beau monde sought visibility, a place in the public eye. But who actually cared to watch? It is true that the beau monde featured prominently in eighteenth-century newspapers, gossip sheets, and satirical prints. These may have served to entertain lower-status members of British society, but it's unclear how much the general public actually cared, or even thought seriously about, the power plays of the elite. In this book, Greig has shown convincingly that the beau monde themselves believed that publicity afforded power. If the author were able to take this one step further, and demonstrate that members of the general public also affirmed the profound influence of what was—on the surface—seeming frivolity, it would cement her claims about the real politics of eighteenth-century sociability. Some of Greig's rich, varied, and extremely interesting sources, such as a letter claiming that a “mob below stairs” thronged Maria Gunning, the Duchess of Hamilton, in the evenings (176), or accounts from servants who labored from dawn to dusk on the beau monde's behalf (224), might, through further analysis, demonstrate how and why members of the general public bought into the claims to superiority and privilege that were wielded so masterfully by members of the glittering world.