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Profile Books Writing on the Wall Graffiti and Rebellion in Eighteenth-Century Britain.
'Fascinating ... not only a history of graffiti, but also a history of the 18th century through lost voices of the people who lived through it.' The Times
What if walls could talk? For historian Madeleine Pelling, they can - if you know where to look.
A brilliant new cultural history of the long eighteenth century, Writing on the Wall is told through the marks its citizens left behind, bringing into focus lost voices from the highest to the lowest in society. From the centre of London to the islands of the Caribbean, Pelling goes in search of graffiti, evidence of how ordinary people experienced the world-changing events that defined their lives - from political prisoners to sex workers, homesick sailors, Romantic poets and the artisans of the industrial revolution.
Here are lives, loves, triumphs and failures, scratched into the walls of prisons and latrines, chalked up on doors and etched into windows. The names of their creators may be lost to history, but together they tell the real story of Britain's most rebellious and transformative century.
What if walls could talk? For historian Madeleine Pelling, they can - if you know where to look.
A brilliant new cultural history of the long eighteenth century, Writing on the Wall is told through the marks its citizens left behind, bringing into focus lost voices from the highest to the lowest in society. From the centre of London to the islands of the Caribbean, Pelling goes in search of graffiti, evidence of how ordinary people experienced the world-changing events that defined their lives - from political prisoners to sex workers, homesick sailors, Romantic poets and the artisans of the industrial revolution.
Here are lives, loves, triumphs and failures, scratched into the walls of prisons and latrines, chalked up on doors and etched into windows. The names of their creators may be lost to history, but together they tell the real story of Britain's most rebellious and transformative century.
352 pages, Paperback
Published April 3, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 1, 2025
"What had started out as everyday and unremarkable in the earliest decades of the period had quickly grown into something more effective. Bearing witness to, and intervening in, public and private lives, it provoked, fascinated and repulsed. It had united communities and torn them apart, mocked so-called polite society and aspired to it. Graffiti was, above all, human."
In Writing on the Wall, Madeleine Pelling explores the history and understanding of graffiti from the beginning of the so-called Long 18th Century (around 1688–1837) to its end. Graffiti, though an often overlooked area of history and artistic or literary expression, played a key role in some of the most tumultuous events of the period and became, by the 19th century, the illicit, revolutionary and potentially destabilising force we think of it as being today.
I have never stopped to consider just how much graffiti can truly tell us about a time period and I have never looked into the words and pictures drawn on walls, apart from those of the ancient world. Pelling's book is an impressive piece of research and a much-needed addition to the study of both graffiti and 18th century Britain. My knowledge of 18th century Britain is very limited – I know bits and pieces but it is hard for me to, for example, connect events or people or ideologies together as I do not have a strong understanding of how the government worked, what events followed what and what notable figures of the era stood for and advocated for - and this book did so much to help me get a better understanding of Britain, its development, the crises it faced and the revolutionary impact of graffiti. One major example of how this book helped me was that it was only know that I fully understood where the Jacobite cause came from and who the Stuarts they supported, Bonnie Prince Charlie most notably, were: somehow, I had never realized they were James II & VII's son and grandson! This – and realising that the Jacobite cause was one of decades, not just a few insurrections here and there – made me look at the Jacobite uprisings in a completely different way.
I knew a lot happened in the 18th century but as the book went on, I began to truly fathom just how much happened. The Long 18th Century begins with the Glorious Revolution, a bloodless but still monumental shift in power, the ousting of Catholic James II & VII. There was constant religious debates, riots and paranoia. The Gordon Riots are perhaps the biggest example of this religious turmoil: they were a sequence of violent riots led by protestants angered by a new law that allowed Catholics to, for example, own land and take up political roles. During the riots, many Catholic households, churches and businesses were destroyed, hundreds were killed, and criminals used the chaos to plunder, steal and rape. The rioters even tore open Newgate Prison, a symbol of British government, rule and law. The British Empire was growing ever-larger and more powerful, which brought with it riches from all around the world and intensified human atrocities such as the slave trade. The Jacobite cause with its insurrections, battles and severe political clashes and divides brought forth the tense relationship between Scotland and England, the mistrust of the royal house of Hanover, fears of Catholic uprisings, resulting in lots of paranoia, imprisonments and executions. Even decades after the battle of Culloden, being called a Jacobite could mean losing, if not your freedom, than at least your standing in society. This was the era of revolutions and alongside having to deal with revolutionary France and all the panic that caused, especially among the higher classes, Britain also lost its colonies in America. George III's severe mental illness was cause for panic, as were the growing abolitionist movement, the activation of the working class and their demand for universal human rights, and the revolutionary new artistic movement, romanticism. Cities grew larger and industrialisation began, resulting in further exploitation of the working class, their bodies and their labour.
Reading about all the different ways graffiti was used in this time was interesting. I had no idea just how common it was for people to carry chalk with them, to doodle on walls and make their mark in taverns and places like that – people, if they went to visit someone and they weren't there, could just write on their door and say "Hey, I was here but missed you, meet me here at this time tomorrow for a chat". People playing games in pubs wrote scores on the wall. This book tracks the transformation of graffiti from this kind of every-day thing that anyone who can wield a piece of chalk or a sharp object to carve with can do (Pelling highlights how graffiti was, in many ways, a very democratic from of communication, as it didn't require money, much time or even literacy) to something dangerous. Through riots, revolutions, political crises, murders and strikes, graffiti is there, dividing people, spreading agendas, inciting anger, calling for peace, attacking the government, bolstering the Empire. It is no wonder graffiti becomes something feared by the time Victoria takes the throne: the 18th century saw time and time again its power and potential to cause chaos. Graffiti became punishable and policed, which led to many marginalised and powerless people losing their ability to communicate, make their voiced heard and build communities – not that the threat of imprisonment or fines stopped everyone (nor does it stop people today) from writing on the wall. But graffiti culture was not the same after that.
I am not the biggest fan of political history – I'm a sexuality and gender historian, more focused on the private, the personal and the emotioal – and as this is a book all about the intertwined relationship of graffiti and revolutionary thought, there were sections I wasn't that intrigued by. But even in those moments, Pelling always pulled me back into this world and made it feel alive and acute for me. I was most intrigued by the stories that followed specific people, especially those who were just normal people trying to get by. The first chapter about Mary Aubry, a Catholic midwife who murdered her husband after experiencing years of brutal abuse and disposed of his remains by scattering pits and pieces of him in public toilets all around London, was a really tragic one. Through her story you get to see just how unfair the justice system of the time was and how her faith impacted how she was treated, as well as how criminals and their stories were commodified, made into lurid tales and ballads. It was also horrifyingly interesting to read about how Aubry's case fuelled the anti-Catholic sentiments of the time and, according to Pelling, began the transformation of graffiti from every-day thing to something revolutionary. Graffiti played a surprising role in Aubry's capture. The most moving chapter of the book for me was that of James Doe, a man who took his own life and left behind walls of texts - an elaborate suicide note of sorts - in which he explored his desperation, his religious and moral ideas, his regrets, his shattered friendship and said his goodbyes. Reading his words brought tears to my eyes, for even though he lived so long ago, the desperation and sorrow in his words feels acute, especially to someone like me who has struggled with mental illness. His story from an apprentice to a respected ceramics artist who lost his job after he helped an imprisoned friend (who had been jailed for trying to defect to work at another manufacturer – a crime in this period of highly competitive industry) and eventually a severely depressed and desperate man who saw no point in living anymore was just very tragic. It shone a light on the crushing nature of the developing industrial system of the late 18th century. There was something I liked or found interesting in every story Pelling told, but these two moved me the most.
This book was at times challenging for me due to my lack of knowledge about the era (though Pelling does largely a fabulous job introducing the 18th century world to her readers) and my lack of interest in political debates and so on, but for the most part, it was an interesting read. I don't want to just read about my favorite things and time periods in history – I want to expand my horizons, which is exactly what this book did. I understand the 18th century a lot better and I will also never look at writing on the wall the same way again.
Here are some cool facts I learned:
- In the 18th century, one of the largest groups of imprisoned people were those who couldn't pay their debts.
- Around 1770 there were 200 crimes in England and Wales that were punishable by death. They were known as the Bloody Code.
- The card nine of diamonds used to be known as The Curse of Scotland. One of the proposed reasons why is an English belief that every ninth monarch of Scotland was a tyrant.
- The Battle of Culloden – the slaughter that was pretty much the final nail in the coffin of Jacobite dreams and Bonnie Prince Charlie's campaign - lasted only about an hour.
- The 2nd half of the 18th century saw a rise in both interest in and fear of suicide: it was discussed, debated and depicted in art, most notably in novel's like The Sorrows of Young Werther, which is said to have inspired a wave of copycat suicides among young men. The tragic story of James Doe and the notes he left behind, that Pelling explores in this book, was, in its time, a sensation.
- Ceramics were political at times: during John Wilkes's time and the riots of his followers, the words Wilkes and Liberty were painted in china, and later, as abolitionism became more prominent, certain manufacturers declared, in their products, that they didn't use materials produced by slave labor.
- The story of Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I was very popular, especially among women, in the latter half of the century. Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, apparently had a whole library dedicated to them.
- As horrible as it sounds to us, in this period, it was commonplace to publish suicide notes in newspapers and pamphlets.
- In 1731, an author known only as Hurlothrumbo published The Merry-Thought; or The Glass-Window and Bog-House Miscellany, a collection of graffiti, drawings, notes and texts he had found on walls, doors, taverns, public toilets and so on. It became a sensation and eventually more volumes were published: people even began to write graffiti down where they clearly stated their dream of having their words included in one of the volumes.
- The Bog-House Miscellany has but one mention of a black person and that person is a statue. There are no overtly queer graffiti. Were they left out or were there not many, if at all, out of fear, since homosexuality was criminalised? Whatever the case, the England of Hurlothrumbo is slightly misleading in its whiteness, straightness and maleness.
- By the late 18th century around 15 000 black people lived in London, of whom the majority worked in serving roles. Some, however, did manage to amass wealth and make a name for themselves. Contrary to popular belief, London has never been all-white.
- Jacobites had many symbols, such as white roses, butterflies and oak trees. One of the famous anti-Jacobite symbols was 45, after the 45th issue of John Wilkes's paper, in which he attacked the government and the Jacobite cause, resulting in riots.
- Prisoners often created their own codes and language which they used to communicate, barter, tell their own stories and essentially just pass the time in prisons which were, in this time, absolutely hellish places. Graffiti was, for them, a way to make a mark, to leave something of themselves behind, express what they felt and, especially in case of political prisoners, a way to establish their loyalties (literally to carve their anti- British Empire sentiments on British property). For prisoners - and, for example, enslaved people - graffiti was a way to express your individuality and humanity in a system that attempted to strip you of it.
- Former slaves who were given their freedom by Revolutionary France if they agreed to fight in their army ended up fighting the French later when Napoleon took power and reinstated slavery in 1802.
-During the Gordon Riots it wasn't just Catholics who were targeted: Jewish people as well as Irish, French and Italian immigrants were attacked.
In Writing on the Wall, Madeleine Pelling explores the history and understanding of graffiti from the beginning of the so-called Long 18th Century (around 1688–1837) to its end. Graffiti, though an often overlooked area of history and artistic or literary expression, played a key role in some of the most tumultuous events of the period and became, by the 19th century, the illicit, revolutionary and potentially destabilising force we think of it as being today.
I have never stopped to consider just how much graffiti can truly tell us about a time period and I have never looked into the words and pictures drawn on walls, apart from those of the ancient world. Pelling's book is an impressive piece of research and a much-needed addition to the study of both graffiti and 18th century Britain. My knowledge of 18th century Britain is very limited – I know bits and pieces but it is hard for me to, for example, connect events or people or ideologies together as I do not have a strong understanding of how the government worked, what events followed what and what notable figures of the era stood for and advocated for - and this book did so much to help me get a better understanding of Britain, its development, the crises it faced and the revolutionary impact of graffiti. One major example of how this book helped me was that it was only know that I fully understood where the Jacobite cause came from and who the Stuarts they supported, Bonnie Prince Charlie most notably, were: somehow, I had never realized they were James II & VII's son and grandson! This – and realising that the Jacobite cause was one of decades, not just a few insurrections here and there – made me look at the Jacobite uprisings in a completely different way.
I knew a lot happened in the 18th century but as the book went on, I began to truly fathom just how much happened. The Long 18th Century begins with the Glorious Revolution, a bloodless but still monumental shift in power, the ousting of Catholic James II & VII. There was constant religious debates, riots and paranoia. The Gordon Riots are perhaps the biggest example of this religious turmoil: they were a sequence of violent riots led by protestants angered by a new law that allowed Catholics to, for example, own land and take up political roles. During the riots, many Catholic households, churches and businesses were destroyed, hundreds were killed, and criminals used the chaos to plunder, steal and rape. The rioters even tore open Newgate Prison, a symbol of British government, rule and law. The British Empire was growing ever-larger and more powerful, which brought with it riches from all around the world and intensified human atrocities such as the slave trade. The Jacobite cause with its insurrections, battles and severe political clashes and divides brought forth the tense relationship between Scotland and England, the mistrust of the royal house of Hanover, fears of Catholic uprisings, resulting in lots of paranoia, imprisonments and executions. Even decades after the battle of Culloden, being called a Jacobite could mean losing, if not your freedom, than at least your standing in society. This was the era of revolutions and alongside having to deal with revolutionary France and all the panic that caused, especially among the higher classes, Britain also lost its colonies in America. George III's severe mental illness was cause for panic, as were the growing abolitionist movement, the activation of the working class and their demand for universal human rights, and the revolutionary new artistic movement, romanticism. Cities grew larger and industrialisation began, resulting in further exploitation of the working class, their bodies and their labour.
Reading about all the different ways graffiti was used in this time was interesting. I had no idea just how common it was for people to carry chalk with them, to doodle on walls and make their mark in taverns and places like that – people, if they went to visit someone and they weren't there, could just write on their door and say "Hey, I was here but missed you, meet me here at this time tomorrow for a chat". People playing games in pubs wrote scores on the wall. This book tracks the transformation of graffiti from this kind of every-day thing that anyone who can wield a piece of chalk or a sharp object to carve with can do (Pelling highlights how graffiti was, in many ways, a very democratic from of communication, as it didn't require money, much time or even literacy) to something dangerous. Through riots, revolutions, political crises, murders and strikes, graffiti is there, dividing people, spreading agendas, inciting anger, calling for peace, attacking the government, bolstering the Empire. It is no wonder graffiti becomes something feared by the time Victoria takes the throne: the 18th century saw time and time again its power and potential to cause chaos. Graffiti became punishable and policed, which led to many marginalised and powerless people losing their ability to communicate, make their voiced heard and build communities – not that the threat of imprisonment or fines stopped everyone (nor does it stop people today) from writing on the wall. But graffiti culture was not the same after that.
I am not the biggest fan of political history – I'm a sexuality and gender historian, more focused on the private, the personal and the emotioal – and as this is a book all about the intertwined relationship of graffiti and revolutionary thought, there were sections I wasn't that intrigued by. But even in those moments, Pelling always pulled me back into this world and made it feel alive and acute for me. I was most intrigued by the stories that followed specific people, especially those who were just normal people trying to get by. The first chapter about Mary Aubry, a Catholic midwife who murdered her husband after experiencing years of brutal abuse and disposed of his remains by scattering pits and pieces of him in public toilets all around London, was a really tragic one. Through her story you get to see just how unfair the justice system of the time was and how her faith impacted how she was treated, as well as how criminals and their stories were commodified, made into lurid tales and ballads. It was also horrifyingly interesting to read about how Aubry's case fuelled the anti-Catholic sentiments of the time and, according to Pelling, began the transformation of graffiti from every-day thing to something revolutionary. Graffiti played a surprising role in Aubry's capture. The most moving chapter of the book for me was that of James Doe, a man who took his own life and left behind walls of texts - an elaborate suicide note of sorts - in which he explored his desperation, his religious and moral ideas, his regrets, his shattered friendship and said his goodbyes. Reading his words brought tears to my eyes, for even though he lived so long ago, the desperation and sorrow in his words feels acute, especially to someone like me who has struggled with mental illness. His story from an apprentice to a respected ceramics artist who lost his job after he helped an imprisoned friend (who had been jailed for trying to defect to work at another manufacturer – a crime in this period of highly competitive industry) and eventually a severely depressed and desperate man who saw no point in living anymore was just very tragic. It shone a light on the crushing nature of the developing industrial system of the late 18th century. There was something I liked or found interesting in every story Pelling told, but these two moved me the most.
This book was at times challenging for me due to my lack of knowledge about the era (though Pelling does largely a fabulous job introducing the 18th century world to her readers) and my lack of interest in political debates and so on, but for the most part, it was an interesting read. I don't want to just read about my favorite things and time periods in history – I want to expand my horizons, which is exactly what this book did. I understand the 18th century a lot better and I will also never look at writing on the wall the same way again.
Here are some cool facts I learned:
- In the 18th century, one of the largest groups of imprisoned people were those who couldn't pay their debts.
- Around 1770 there were 200 crimes in England and Wales that were punishable by death. They were known as the Bloody Code.
- The card nine of diamonds used to be known as The Curse of Scotland. One of the proposed reasons why is an English belief that every ninth monarch of Scotland was a tyrant.
- The Battle of Culloden – the slaughter that was pretty much the final nail in the coffin of Jacobite dreams and Bonnie Prince Charlie's campaign - lasted only about an hour.
- The 2nd half of the 18th century saw a rise in both interest in and fear of suicide: it was discussed, debated and depicted in art, most notably in novel's like The Sorrows of Young Werther, which is said to have inspired a wave of copycat suicides among young men. The tragic story of James Doe and the notes he left behind, that Pelling explores in this book, was, in its time, a sensation.
- Ceramics were political at times: during John Wilkes's time and the riots of his followers, the words Wilkes and Liberty were painted in china, and later, as abolitionism became more prominent, certain manufacturers declared, in their products, that they didn't use materials produced by slave labor.
- The story of Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I was very popular, especially among women, in the latter half of the century. Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, apparently had a whole library dedicated to them.
- As horrible as it sounds to us, in this period, it was commonplace to publish suicide notes in newspapers and pamphlets.
- In 1731, an author known only as Hurlothrumbo published The Merry-Thought; or The Glass-Window and Bog-House Miscellany, a collection of graffiti, drawings, notes and texts he had found on walls, doors, taverns, public toilets and so on. It became a sensation and eventually more volumes were published: people even began to write graffiti down where they clearly stated their dream of having their words included in one of the volumes.
- The Bog-House Miscellany has but one mention of a black person and that person is a statue. There are no overtly queer graffiti. Were they left out or were there not many, if at all, out of fear, since homosexuality was criminalised? Whatever the case, the England of Hurlothrumbo is slightly misleading in its whiteness, straightness and maleness.
- By the late 18th century around 15 000 black people lived in London, of whom the majority worked in serving roles. Some, however, did manage to amass wealth and make a name for themselves. Contrary to popular belief, London has never been all-white.
- Jacobites had many symbols, such as white roses, butterflies and oak trees. One of the famous anti-Jacobite symbols was 45, after the 45th issue of John Wilkes's paper, in which he attacked the government and the Jacobite cause, resulting in riots.
- Prisoners often created their own codes and language which they used to communicate, barter, tell their own stories and essentially just pass the time in prisons which were, in this time, absolutely hellish places. Graffiti was, for them, a way to make a mark, to leave something of themselves behind, express what they felt and, especially in case of political prisoners, a way to establish their loyalties (literally to carve their anti- British Empire sentiments on British property). For prisoners - and, for example, enslaved people - graffiti was a way to express your individuality and humanity in a system that attempted to strip you of it.
- Former slaves who were given their freedom by Revolutionary France if they agreed to fight in their army ended up fighting the French later when Napoleon took power and reinstated slavery in 1802.
-During the Gordon Riots it wasn't just Catholics who were targeted: Jewish people as well as Irish, French and Italian immigrants were attacked.
June 30, 2024
Final read of June! I discovered this book as an avid listener of history podcasts and Maddy Pelling is the cohost of After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds and the Paranormal. This is her first book and absolutely fantastic.
With a very eloquent, academic, yet easy-to-follow writing style, Maddy takes readers through the history of resistance and rebellion in the long eighteenth century (~1680s to 1800) while using graffiti to illustrate how normal people reacted to the world around them.
The two chapters I found most striking were ones about a French woman in the late 1600s who killed her abusive husband was caught thanks to graffiti left on her door, and another about a man in a psychological tailspin, detailing his mental decline on the walls of his temporary accommodation prior to his suicide on the adjoining quayside in the 1790s.
I very much consider myself a fan of early modern history (for example, the Tudors and early Stuarts), but I am always intrigued by other periods and especially this one. Maddy's storytelling and research was brilliant. I could certainly hear her voice and passion throughout.
History non-fiction isn't everyone's cup of tea, but if it's yours, this one is certainly recommended!
With a very eloquent, academic, yet easy-to-follow writing style, Maddy takes readers through the history of resistance and rebellion in the long eighteenth century (~1680s to 1800) while using graffiti to illustrate how normal people reacted to the world around them.
The two chapters I found most striking were ones about a French woman in the late 1600s who killed her abusive husband was caught thanks to graffiti left on her door, and another about a man in a psychological tailspin, detailing his mental decline on the walls of his temporary accommodation prior to his suicide on the adjoining quayside in the 1790s.
I very much consider myself a fan of early modern history (for example, the Tudors and early Stuarts), but I am always intrigued by other periods and especially this one. Maddy's storytelling and research was brilliant. I could certainly hear her voice and passion throughout.
History non-fiction isn't everyone's cup of tea, but if it's yours, this one is certainly recommended!
May 4, 2025
I enjoyed the book, I felt that some chapters were really interesting and other chapters were a bit slow. Overall, really interesting.
April 22, 2024
Maddy Pelling’s book is a real eye opener about the role in history of graffiti, of communicating and recording. I had no idea. This is a thoroughly researched, meticulously detailed telling of Britain in the 18th century through real life stories of graffiti. Anyone who has listened to Maddy speak as a historian on her History Hit podcast already knows she can regale us with history without it being boring. She does this again in this book.
June 15, 2025
I am not generally a non fiction reader unless it’s about something I’m particularly interested in and lucky for me I am very interested in British history between 16th and 18th centuries so this ticked that box. I live in Bristol so graffiti is commonplace here particularly since Banksy started adorning Bristol with his works. But this is a whole different level. I was fascinated at the way graffiti has had such a profound impact on history. I also liked that I could read a chapter and put it down for a day or two without losing the thread.
Briefly, there are 9 distinct chapters, and a concluding chapter, and all were interesting. This is not something particular to this era, people have been writing on walls since prehistoric times, and some of the graffiti the author found was much earlier than the period this book covers. For me the most fascinating was ‘Ghosts In The Tower’ where in 1796 John Brand discovered copious amounts of graffiti in the Tower of London, some of which was accredited to famous and infamous occupants of the tower.
The author uses various words to discuss the writing on the walls as the term graffiti is a fairly modern one, first used in mid 19th century. Graffiti is defined by Oxford Languages as “writing or drawings scribbled, scratched or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place.” It’s not just a history of graffiti but also a history of 18th century Britain, and somewhat further afield in parts. You can tell this has been written by an academic but it’s still a relatively easy read and I really enjoyed it.
Briefly, there are 9 distinct chapters, and a concluding chapter, and all were interesting. This is not something particular to this era, people have been writing on walls since prehistoric times, and some of the graffiti the author found was much earlier than the period this book covers. For me the most fascinating was ‘Ghosts In The Tower’ where in 1796 John Brand discovered copious amounts of graffiti in the Tower of London, some of which was accredited to famous and infamous occupants of the tower.
The author uses various words to discuss the writing on the walls as the term graffiti is a fairly modern one, first used in mid 19th century. Graffiti is defined by Oxford Languages as “writing or drawings scribbled, scratched or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place.” It’s not just a history of graffiti but also a history of 18th century Britain, and somewhat further afield in parts. You can tell this has been written by an academic but it’s still a relatively easy read and I really enjoyed it.
July 23, 2025
Here i sit bored as hell waiting for the f****** bell.
That was a piece of graffiti i always remembered from when I was at school written onto a desk.
Well this is quite apt for this book. It is utterly boring.
I love history books for which I read a lot of and are strewn across my huge bookshelf but this is the worst I have ever read.
I learnt about this book from one of the best podcasts ever alongside Gone Medieval and Not Just The Tudors. Maddy Pelling does After Dark Podcast with co host Anthony Delaney and it's fantastic.
I went on to research the book via Maddy's interviews on various podcasts and this sounded so unique and very interesting and because I think Maddy is brilliant I bought the book on Audible as Maddy's voice is wonderful too but I just couldn't get on with this. It's nothing like the verbal blurb of her interviews. It's just really boring dense storytelling on history.
As i said i love history but it's not told with any excitement whatsoever and the graffiti subject is minute buried in the density of the boring history telling.
Do check out her podcast though! It's amazing!
That was a piece of graffiti i always remembered from when I was at school written onto a desk.
Well this is quite apt for this book. It is utterly boring.
I love history books for which I read a lot of and are strewn across my huge bookshelf but this is the worst I have ever read.
I learnt about this book from one of the best podcasts ever alongside Gone Medieval and Not Just The Tudors. Maddy Pelling does After Dark Podcast with co host Anthony Delaney and it's fantastic.
I went on to research the book via Maddy's interviews on various podcasts and this sounded so unique and very interesting and because I think Maddy is brilliant I bought the book on Audible as Maddy's voice is wonderful too but I just couldn't get on with this. It's nothing like the verbal blurb of her interviews. It's just really boring dense storytelling on history.
As i said i love history but it's not told with any excitement whatsoever and the graffiti subject is minute buried in the density of the boring history telling.
Do check out her podcast though! It's amazing!
December 26, 2024
Wonderful! I especially loved the chapter on the Tower. A wild and exciting ride through Georgian graffiti. Easy to read but meticulously researched. So glad the press supported the inclusion of so many essential images to tell these stories.
December 6, 2025
Love the after dark podcast so of course I had to come check out Maddys book - amazing what you can learn from graffiti! Might need to listen again to try and retain more of the detail but definitely worth delving into!
September 11, 2024
A rivetting read from start to finish! Bravo!
October 23, 2024
An excellent history with narrative well-incorporated. A very well narrated audiobook.
January 24, 2025
An absolutely fascinating book about an important part of our social history.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews