Soho: A history of London's most colourful neighbourhood

by Judith Summers

Soho, London's most colourful and cosmopolitan district, is being redeveloped, and its long-established residential community is fast disappearing. This account of the area's history uses the unique memories of its current inhabitants, emphasizes its social and cultural diversity and examines its notoriety. It covers the 17th century, when Soho was a fashionable neighbourhood, and the 18th century during which it became a slum district. Its role as a centre of immigrant life is also investigated.

Genres: History

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Judith Summers was born and brought up in London, England.

A journalist, novelist and historian,she has published five novels and five non-fiction titles.

Her memoir, My Life with George, and its sequel, The Badness of King George, both became international bestsellers, and her definitive history of Soho won the London Tourist Board Book of the Year award in 1990.


Judith has recently re-published her early novels - Dear Sister, Crime and Ravishment, and Frogs and Lovers - as ebooks.

Reviews

[Frank Jacobs · Rating 4 out of 5]

A history of London's district of fun and its people, from the time in the 16th century when the area was still part of the Crown's hunting grounds ('Soho!' was a hunter's cry). Gambling, drinking, religious and political dissent, craftsmanship and prostitution were all, at varying times, peculiar Soho specialities. The book ends in the 1980s, with the invasion of the yuppies. It would be interesting to have Summers' update on what the intervening decades have done to Soho.