Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: London: The Biography by PETER ACKROYD ISBN: 0-385-49771-7 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 08 April, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.09 (34 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Very well researched pot pourri of facts
Comment: This is described as a biography rather than a history - but what is the difference? According to my dictionary : one is an account of a life, the other is an account of past events - same thing?
In fact the first 4 chapters are a conventional history, from pre-Roman through to Early Middle Ages.
It's only thereafter that we get chapters on individual 'themes' that cover all ages, so you keep going back & forth hundreds of years every few pages.
Unless you're a native/resident of London, you'll probably enjoy the book better if you have a London Tourist Guidebook to hand. There are a couple of Modern maps, but only of the City & West End, so trying to understand what's being described outside the Roman City Walls is sometimes difficult. For example, why wouldn't a stranger think that Kentish Town is near Kent, ie to the South & East, when in fact its to the North & West? Also an Underground/Subway map might be useful.
Whilst there's descriptions of the transformation due to the docks & the railways, there's no mention of air travel (whether it be from Croydon/Heathrow/Gatwick/City).
In fact it is interesting to note all the things that never get a mention : OK so the book is about London, but there's not a word about Queen Victoria (Winston Churchill gets a one-line quote). There's a picture of the Thames Flood Barrier on the front cover, but no mention of it in the chapter dedicated to flooding.
Plenty of pictures of London Bridge over the ages (and very nice they are too), but no pictures whatsoever of Big Ben or Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace or Trafalgar Square, Tower Bridge or Tower of London?
London is famous for its Museums & Art Galleries, and it would have been interesting to read about their foundation. But apart from 3 mentions of the Tate Modern in the chapter on South Bank, that's your lot. No mention of even the existence of the British Museum, Natural History Museum, Science Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, Tate Gallery, National Gallery, Royal Academy etc etc - surely there could have been 2-3 pages on those?
For all the talk about commerce and in which streets you could buy what goods, there's no mention of the foundation of larger emporia such as Harrods or Selfridges?
So all in all, very pleased for what is to be found in there, but disappointed at what has been overlooked.
Rating: 4
Summary: City lifes
Comment: The metaphor of cities as organisms has become almost a cliche - yet it's one that fails utterly. Fortunately, Ackroyd essentially abandons the image as he progresses through this account of an urban "life". His narrative is lively and thorough - almost as dynamic as the city itself. After a brief chronology of beginnings, he switches to a topical survey of elements contributing to the character of London. Each segment may be local in time or place, or span distances and years. We learn about the wall surrounding The City, the impact of noise - an ongoing phenomenon which repels some while attracting others - eateries, housing, plagues and fires. There is a page and a quarter on suicides - although why that is set apart is elusive. Ackroyd sets it all down like a Medieval annalist, surpassing that genre by carrying themes from origins to modern times. The wealth of information presented is nearly overwhelming. While the material is well organized, the steppingstone effect impairs the flow of narrative. Perhaps, given the sweep of time and vast numbers of topics that can be derived from an urban history, light reading isn't possible.
Few are indifferent to cities - people seem to loathe them or love them. Ackroyd is captivated by London, but he's anything but apologetic about the failings of urban living. Crowding leads to disease. Shoddy building practice encouraged conflagration. Noise is universal through time and space. Traffic jams long preceded the advent of the automobile and public transportation didn't prove a solution. While there are those who revel in such an environment, as Ackyord admits, his own affinity for urban dynamics blinds him to an outsider's hostile view. His most hilarious citation is that of Boswell's unfavourable comparison of Greenwich's weather that of Fleet Street! He cites few critics, almost universally foreign, not rural Britons. "Country folk" flocked to London: after the initial shock, smoothly fit in, continuing the urban dynamic he lauds.
The business of London, states Ackroyd, is business. Development, restoration, exchanges of goods and services - including those involving such disparities as survival and entertainment - are what make London exist, even flourish. Property is fundamental, as he demonstrates when fires devastate London. No plans or authority could match the speed with which owners reclaimed their shops and homes after the disasters. Epidemics causing massive mortality only served to allow speculators fresh opportunities. This, of course, is "civilisation" at work. Almost invisible is the class structure this scenario creates, but Ackroyd aknowledges the "ubiquitious shadow" of the poor this situation creates. Their numbers, he notes, "could fully populate an average city". This, in the "greatest city in the world".
Fully aware of their condition, the London poor generated some of history's more radical political movements. The initial year of the 14th Century witnessed uprisings of "savages" launching assaults on "their betters" - a tradition, Ackroyd notes, that is ongoing. More organised "movements" from the Wat Tyler tax revolt through the Lollards and Chartists to today's race conflicts bear witness to class resentment and disaffection. Urban dynamics, then, is not a wholly positive ideal.
Ackroyd has culled nearly every ingredient that goes into making a city. In this case, it's London, but the same recipe could be applied nearly anywhere. If London fogs incite more literature than Sydney's sunshine, that's a feature of latitude. If Marx researched in London instead of Rome, that's an accident of history. The urban stew Although Ackroyd's admiration of his city is clear and unequivocal, presented in a treasure of informative prose. If you are a fan of cities, especially Britain's capital, you may find this book useful, even entertaining. He's a fine writer, assuming a monumental task. He does it as well as can be expected. He's given us a wearying tome, though hardly a boring one. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Rating: 3
Summary: Social history as seen by a literary historian
Comment: Impressive in its scope, astonishing in its erudition, overwhelming in its detail, "London" contains a smorgasbord of information from an awe-inspiring number of sources. Unlike most histories (much less biographies), most of the material in "London" is organized by theme; only three "events"--the Great Plague of 1665, the Great Fire of 1666, and the Blitz--are examined in depth. Chapters detail architecture, neighborhoods, markets, work, entertainment, food, drink, smells, crime, punishment, madness, sickness, and more. Critics have noted that the reader will find few aristocrats or statesmen among the pages of this book; Ackroyd's focus is on the streets, the habitats, the commoners, and the everyday life of London. Civil war and uprisings, kings and queens, mayors and parliaments are mentioned only in passing.
Yet this is certainly no treatise inspired the Annales school. Instead, "London" is a social history written by a novelist and literary historian, one who is more likely to quote Pepys, Boswell, Dickens, or Orwell than to invoke Cromwell, Pitt, Disraeli, or Churchill. The author favors fiction, diaries, essays, and similar remnants of the literati over court documents, tax records, and other types of evidence examined by English social historians such as Lawrence Stone or E. P. Thompson.
While Ackroyd excels in compilation, he neglects any attempt at true synthesis. The book's overwhelming erudition, while admirable, is sometimes oppressive, and there seems to be little thought given to the structure of the book. One could toss most of its 79 chapters into the air and read them in the order in which they fall to the ground, with little loss in comprehension. This encyclopedic doorstop is truly a book to dip into, not to read in several sittings. (In spite of how absorbing I found much of its content, it still took me six months to finish it.) The overall effect is a sequence of well-written, thematically ordered index cards flaunting the research assembled by a polymathic mind.
The lack of synthesis is further displayed by an annoying tic: Ackroyd often follows a quote or anecdote with a generalized sentiment that begins "So..." or "Here..." A few of the many examples from his otherwise fascinating chapter on children: "Here the idea of innocence, in a corrupt and corrupting city, is powerfully effective." "So the singing child is alluding to a dreadful destiny within the city." "So London children were, from the beginning, at a disadvantage." "So for at least two centuries London children have been associated with, or identified by, gambling." "So the city hardened its street children in every sense." The problem with these sentences is not simply their lazy, hypnotic construction; rather, their vacuousness and vagueness add no insight to the quotes they are meant to illuminate. And, more often than not, their fuzzy universalities could apply to Detroit as much as to London.
Nevertheless, in spite of its imperfections, one is hard pressed to discount entirely the wealth contained in these pages. I'm sure I'll spend the next few years hauling this tome off the bookshelf to look up a quote or revisit a London neighborhood. But I'm equally sure that I'll never again read through the entire book.
 |
Title: Albion : Origins of the English Imagination by PETER ACKROYD ISBN: 0385497725 Publisher: Nan A. Talese Pub. Date: 21 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
 |
Title: Seven Ages of Paris by ALISTAIR HORNE ISBN: 0679454810 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 12 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
 |
Title: Dickens : Public Life & Private Passions by Peter Ackroyd ISBN: 1592580025 Publisher: Hylas Publishing Pub. Date: 14 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
 |
Title: A History of London by Stephen Inwood, Roy Porter ISBN: 0786706139 Publisher: Publishers' Group West Pub. Date: May, 1999 List Price(USD): $38.00 |
 |
Title: London : The Novel by EDWARD RUTHERFURD ISBN: 0449002632 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 28 March, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
