"When a man is tired of London," Samuel Johnson noted in 1777, "he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford." Indeed, for almost two thousand years, London has been the political, cultural, and economic heart of Britain, and one of the great hubs of world affairs. Now, in this fascinating volume, the doyen of London historians, Francis Sheppard, provides the definitive account of London's diverse past, from its origins as a Roman settlement (founded at the lowest bridgeable point across the Thames) to the world-class metropolis it is today. It providesa vivid account of a city which was the `deere sweete' place which Chaucer loved more than any other city on earth, which was for Dickens his `magic lantern', and to Keats `a great sea', howling for more wrecks. It is also a story of much contrast and remarkable resilience; through great fires andpestilence, civil war, and the Blitz, London has rebuilt and reinvented itself for each generation. "Sheppard is the great authority to whom we all look up," Roy Porter has written. "He has made the history of London his life's work, and I suspect there's no one in the world with so full a knowledge and so rich a grasp as he of sources, physical fabric, and all manner of details." In thiscolorful new history, Sheppard takes us on a fascinating voyage through London's past. It is the definitive account of the rise to power of one of the world's great metropolitan centers.
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conceived but by those who have been in it. I will venture to say that there is more learning and science within the circumference often miles from where we now sit than in all the rest of the kingdom. - Page xvii
led him; Earth enrich'd him, heaven carest him, Taunton blest him, London blest him. This thankful town, that mindful city, Share his piety and his pity. What he gave, and how he gave it, Ask the poor, and you shall have it. - Page 1
Among the noble cities of the world that are celebrated by Fame, the City of London, seat of the Monarchy of England, is one that spreads its fame wider, sends its wealth further, and lifts its head higher than all - Page xvii
populous places at a distance from one another, and the inhabitants of any one of them know- nothing, or next to nothing, of the proceedings in any other, and not much indeed of those of their own. - Page 296
takes a lot of understanding. It's a great place. Immense. The richest town in the world, the biggest port, the greatest manufacturing town, the Imperial city—the centre of civilisation, the heart of the world. - Page xvii
it is no exaggeration to say that, but for the hostility of the City, Charles the First would never have been - Page 161
will be one vast raving bedlam, the hospitals will be stormed, traffic will cease, the homeless will shriek for help, the city will be a pandemonium'. - Page 334
and squalid cottages, no longer exist. There are wide gradations of income, but it is the same kind of life that is being lived at different - Page 333
are scene very poore. . heaped up together, and in a sort smothered with many families of children and servantes in - Page 174
plenteous, and very easie to be had at low and small rents, and by reason of the late dissolution of Religious houses many houses in London stood vacant, and not any man desirous to take them'. - Page 174
Cover:
+ By Francis Sheppard
+ Published 2000 Oxford University Press
+ 496 pages
+ ISBN 0192853694
1 Comment:
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September 23, 2007 at 1:53 PM
what about your's country story..???do you have a books..???maybe you can start to write about yours...