London: A History

by Jeremy Black

Everyone thinks they know London. Its landmarks have been used in a hundred films, its skyline and riverscape instantly recognizable. For London has been at the centre of the nation s and even the world s attention, on and off, for two thousand years. Yet familiarity does not necessarily bring enlightenment. The very size and bedeviling complexity of the city have the power to obscure and to mesmerize; the unparalleled tangle of experience over such a long period of time can seem impossible to unravel. What, then, was London? It was a capital city, a major port, an economic powerhouse, a magnet for talent and ambition. It was wealthy, populous, central to the nation, cosmopolitan yet self-absorbed and inward-looking. People have always migrated to London, from elsewhere in Britain as well as overseas, either to work or to seek a better life. London was the first modern city, with the world s highest wages and the best standard of living for those in work. Yet London could just as easily be portrayed as a sink of depravity, a seething snakepit of avarice, prostitution and vice, with high death rates and pockets of great poverty and despair. In fact, of course, we cannot really talk of one London at all. Properly speaking, the City - the ancient walled city rather than the financiers Square Mile of today - is the true London, with its City wards, aldermen, sheriffs and lord mayor, city walls and Tower. But when we think of London now, we casually and understandably include much else besides, including the separate City of Westminster and the no less ancient Borough of Southwark.This new narrative history of London pulls together all of these varied themes - and many others - with great skill, perspective and clarity. Fully illustrated, it gives the most complete and accessible insight into London s 2,000 years of history currently available."

Genres: History, Nonfiction, London

440 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2012

About the author

Jeremy Black is an English historian, who was formerly a professor of history at the University of Exeter. He is a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of America and the West at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US.
Black is the author of over 180 books, principally but not exclusively on 18th-century British politics and international relations, and has been described by one commentator as "the most prolific historical scholar of our age". He has published on military and political history, including Warfare in the Western World, 1882–1975 (2001) and The World in the Twentieth Century (2002).

Reviews

[Jim Swike · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good text book on the history of London. You will like it even more if you have visited London.

[Allegria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeremy Black is a Londoner and Freeman of the City (can walk his sheep across Tower Bridge)! Book is stacked with great depth of knowledge and illustrations.

[Liam · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Those who had been condemned to execution a Tyburn had made the painful journey from Newgate prison on Monday morning, usually on the back of a cart and sometimes sitting upon their own coffins. The journey could take up to two hours, with a stop at the church of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate for a blessing, following a pause for a last drink of ale -- 'one for the road' -- at the hospital of St Giles-in-the-Fields or, later, at the Bow Tavern." (211)

"Although medieval population figures are unreliable, it seems likely that the City of London was home to more people at the time of the Norman Conquest, and at every other intervening period, than it is today." (371)

[Jbondandrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book of London was quite good but I have enjoyed other books by different authors more.