Streetlife: The Untold History of Europe's Twentieth Century

by Leif Jerram

The twentieth century in Europe was an urban century: it was shaped by life in, and the view from, the street.
Women were not liberated in legislatures, but liberated themselves in factories, homes, nightclubs, and shops.
Lenin, Hitler, and Mussolini made themselves powerful by making cities ungovernable with riots rampaging through streets, bars occupied one-by-one. New forms of privacy and isolation were not simply a by-product of prosperity, but because people planned new ways of living, new forms of housing in suburbs and estates across the continent. Our proudest cultural achievements lie not in our galleries or state theatres, but in our suburban TV sets, the dance halls, pop music played in garages, and hip hop sung on our estates.
In Streetlife, Leif Jerram presents a totally new history of the twentieth century, with the city at its heart, showing how everything distinctive about the century, from revolution and dictatorship to sexual liberation, was fundamentally shaped by the great urban centres which defined it.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

488 pages, Paperback

First published February 24, 2011

Reviews

[Fatima Kazi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leif Jerram offers a compelling and richly detailed exploration of how the streets of European cities became central to both everyday life and political change. Rather than simply focusing on urban planning or architecture, Jerram delves into the complex interactions between city streets, public space, and social movements, revealing how these places served as sites of protest, cultural expression, and resistance.

Drawing on a range of historical examples from the 20th century, Jerram examines how the street became a symbol of political power, particularly during moments of upheaval like the French student protests of May 1968 or the fall of the Berlin Wall. He blends social history with urban studies, showing how ordinary citizens, often marginalized or overlooked, used the streets as a platform to challenge authority, articulate desires for change, and shape the identity of the modern city.

Jerram’s writing is both accessible and thought-provoking, making Street Life an engaging read for anyone interested in the intersection of history, politics, and urban space. The book is a testament to the importance of the street as a stage for social movements and an essential part of the historical narrative of Europe.

[Sheffielder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting and thought provoking. A bit repetitive towards the end, but well worth a read!

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really interesting read, covering the 20th century, not from the events of high profile leaders, but the person on the street. In doing so, a number of established myths about how the role of women, human sexuality and culture have changed during the 20th century are discarded. For example, women are shown to start taking control of their bodies much earlier than the Sixties and the advent of the pill, and the people of the early 20th century are far from sexually sheltered, being actually more open in their exploits than we are now. The book closes by looking at how we have come to malign cities, while, in actual fact, we have benefited from them and wouldn't want to live elsewhere.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read and an interesting perspective on history: history in the context of the spaces in which we live, both our domestic spaces and urban spaces. This perspective made the topics very accessible perhaps because it is so easy to relate ideas to the spaces we inhabit rather than abstract timelines and it also allowed him to challenge many of our conventional beliefs about women's issues, racism, poverty and much more besides.