Examines how the Alice books address issues that concerned mid-Victorians on the brink of the modern era.

Literary and historical context : The Alice books and Lewis Carroll's world -- The importance of the Alice books and the search for their meaning -- Critical reception of the Alice books. A reading : Alice's adventures in Wonderland : an underground journey to the end of night -- Through the looking-glass : Alice becomes an I -- Blessed rage : the Alices and the modern quest for order -- Laughing and grief : what's so funny about the Alices? -- "And here I must leave you" : death, love, and the White Knight's farewell.