Much of Peter Ackroyd's work has been concerned with the life and past of London but here, as a culmination, is his definitive account of the city. For him it is an organism with its own laws of growth and change, so this book is a biography rather than a history. Ackroyd reveals the dozens of ways in which the continuity of the city survives - in ward boundaries unchanged since the Middle Ages, in vocabulary and in various traditions - showing London as constantly changing, yet forever the same in essence.
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When the eminent novelist and biographer Peter Ackroyd finished writing London: The Biography, he almost immediately had a heart attack, such was the effort of his 800-page work about the "human body" that is this most fascinating of cities. And not just any human body either, but "envisaged in the form of a young man with his arms outstretched in a gesture of liberation ... it embodies the energy and exaltation of a city continually beating in great waves of progress and of confidence". Probably there is no one better placed than Ackroyd--the author of mammoth lives of Dickens and Blake, and novels such as Hawksmoor and Dan Leno and the Lime House Golem which set singular characters against the backdrop of a city constantly shifting in time--to write such a rich, sinewy account of "Infinite London". Ackroyd's London is no mere chronology. Its chapters take on such varied themes as drinking, sex, childhood, poverty, crime and punishment, sewage, food, pestilence and fire, immigration, maps, theatre, war. We learn that gin was "the demon of London for half a century", and that "it has been estimated that in the 1740s and 1750s there were 17,000 'gin-houses'". Fleet Street was an area known for its "violent delights" where "a fourteen-year-old boy, only eighteen inches high, was to be seen in 1702 at a grocer's shop called the Eagle and Child by Shoe Lane". By the mid 19th-century "London had become known as the greatest city on earth". By 1939 "one in five of the British population had become a Londoner".
Though the variousness of London's chapters mean that it can be dipped into at random, Ackroyd is employing a skilful and continuous theme throughout, which constantly links past and present--the similarities of children's games in Lambeth in 1910 and 1999; the obsession with time--"in twenty-first century London time rushes forward and is everywhere apparent", while in 18th-century London the church clock of Newgate "regulated the times of hanging". Above all, he insists that the "dark secret life" of the metropolis is as relevant today as it was in perhaps its most appropriate period, Victorian London. Again and again Ackroyd returns to the image of London as a living organism, hence his use of the word "biography" in the title. At once awed by and intimate with this "ubiquitous" city, he stresses that "it can be located nowhere in particular ... its circumference is everywhere". --Catherine Taylor
Review
"Fizzles with vitality and originality" -- "Sunday Times"
"Marvellous - "the" book about London." -- "Daily Mail"
"Peter Ackroyd was born to write the biography of London...A brilliant book." -- "Sunday Telegraph"
"Marvellous - "the" book about London." -- "Daily Mail"
"Peter Ackroyd was born to write the biography of London...A brilliant book." -- "Sunday Telegraph"
"From the Trade Paperback edition."
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
97 of 100 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
As a history of London, Ackroyd's shifting perspective of the Metropolis lays itself open to criticism from the professional historian. Instead of nailing the City down to a time-line, Ackroyd keeps his structure fluid, his perspective shifting in time and place like the City itself. Grouping his mass of material under headings as diverse as "weather", "murder", "children" etc. allows him to take us back and forth in time within the scope of each chapter. It is the ideal format for his portrait of London as a timeless entity, that encompasses past , present and future and displays each unceasingly. If you like your history caught on the wing, graphic and alive, then I can recommend this book. Peter Ackroyd is more poet than historian, but to capture the feel of a city and its people, to make you smell the medieval, victorian and restoration streets, the poet is the man for the job. He shows us the histories of the hooligan and the aristocrat, bank clerk and psychopath, all detailed with compassion and style. His facts are anecdotal and fascinating, the use of four-letter words down the centuries, where you could get a cheap dinner 300 years ago and who you were likely to meet. An academic history of London it isnt, as a tour of London its the best you'll get.
57 of 65 people found the following review helpful
By JonW
Format:Hardcover
This is a wonderful book. A really compelling read, and full of fascinating information. It's not often that a 600+ page book can keep me turning the pages, reading it pretty much from cover to cover, but this one did.
Having read it, I now find that when I'm in London, I look at the city in a different way - Ackroyd sheds so much light on the city's history and character.
Highly recommended.
62 of 72 people found the following review helpful
By David Ravel
Format:Hardcover
When I first encountered this [book], my first thoughts were, "Why would anyone want to write, let alone read a book about a city, it's hardly rivetting is it, especially one as long as this!" Having been lent this [book] by a friend who I know has impeccible taste in book, and with a lot of persuation by him about good tis book was, I finally decided that I would give the few pages a whirl, and see how it went. About two hundred pages later, and steaming through it, I have to say I was hooked. This [book] was the most unusual, and yet fascinting book I think I have ever read. Through this [book] the history and development of London is charted. This is so well written that the city itself develops as something of a character, and I soon began to feel emotions towards it just as I would with a character in any other good novel. I must say, to achieve this with a landmark is quite a feat! I would recommend this book, as it really is a good read, however it does take some time to get through as it is an extremely long, albeit powerful [book]. All in all, a Capital [book]!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
London through the Ages
Peter Ackroyd's book is historically and thematically based. He brings the whole story of London's rich heritage alive. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Rev. T. J. Carter
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting book
Good copy at a modest price. As ever, his work is wide ranging - a book one dips into frequently, rather than reading it through.
Published 5 months ago by Mr L C Hughes
2.0 out of 5 stars
Dull with no sequence
Firstly let me say I do prefer a history or biography to be in chronological order. Mr Ackroyd did not persuade me differently with this tome. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Gary Selikow
1.0 out of 5 stars
A sprawling mess
Had tried The Thames by Ackroyd years ago but did not get far. That was a while ago. Tried London: the biography this week and felt the same. Read more
Published 13 months ago by dbass51
5.0 out of 5 stars
easy reading
I took this book with me on holiday and all who saw me reading such a big book must have thought me real clever. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Mr. I. V. Collett
5.0 out of 5 stars
Everything one wants to know about the history of London
Everything one wants to know about the history of London, the reason of the existence of some names or habits, a detailed and introspective analysis of the city as if it were a... Read more
Published 20 months ago by AFontana
5.0 out of 5 stars
great packaging
due to it being second hand was pleased with its condition. The packaging was great too. Overall happy with the purchase and delivery time was good.
Published 20 months ago by Debh
4.0 out of 5 stars
the definitive book of london
I don't think there is another book on london that covers so much ground & so much history . Easy to read & engaging , the book covers all sorts of curious facts along with well... Read more
Published 20 months ago by D. S. Sample
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ackroyd's London
There is no better guide to London than Peter Ackroyd; he has written many books based in and on London, presented television programmes from and on London and lives in the city. Read more
Published 21 months ago by RR Waller
1.0 out of 5 stars
Like being lost in a London fog with an over-excited guide
I tried, I really did.
I didn't want this to be a straightforward chronological account, there are plenty of those to choose from. Read more
I didn't want this to be a straightforward chronological account, there are plenty of those to choose from. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Bookwoman
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