The Phoenix: St. Paul's Cathedral And The Men Who Made Modern London (Hardcover)

Customers buy this book with Building St Paul's by James W. P. Campbell

+

Price For Both: £23.07

Show availability and shipping details

• This item: The Phoenix: St. Paul's Cathedral And The Men Who Made Modern London by Leo Hollis

  In stock.
  Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
  This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
  

• Building St Paul's by James W. P. Campbell

  In stock.
  Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
  This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
  

Building St Paul's by James W. P. Campbell 5.0 out of 5 stars (1)  £9.07

Universe of Stone: Chartres Cathedral and the Triumph of the Medieval Mind by Philip Ball 4.5 out of 5 stars (2)  £6.99

The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes 5.0 out of 5 stars (8)  £15.00

The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: or the Murder at Road Hill House by Kate Summerscale 3.1 out of 5 stars (178)  £3.99

The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English by Henry Hitchings 3.9 out of 5 stars (8)  £6.69

› Explore similar items

MAIL ON SUNDAY
'With Hollis as our knowledgeable guide, we watch as a new, vigorous spirit pervades the City of London... It is this new, enthralling spirit, just as much as Wren's 'puzzle in stone', that is the true subject of Leo Hollis's fine book.

Review
'The Phoenix is a truly inspiring story of human ingenuity and persistence in the face of disaster - and of how the future can be built out of the rubble of the past. On top of all that, it's hard to imagine a better introduction to the politics and culture of this glorious period in English history.' (Ross King )

'A wonderfully rich and informative book. To present deep scholarship so accessibly and with such fluency is a rare achievement.' (Tom Holland )

'This is a superlative book. Leo Hollis has that rare gift of making the complex, such as the nature of light and the complexity of national finance, comprehensible to the most lay of readers, whom he rewards - with no dumbing down - with fascinating details and characters.' (Liza Picard )

'In this fascinating, richly detailed account of how St Paul's rose from London's ashes after the Great Fire, Leo Hollis unravels what he calls this "puzzle in stone" to describe not just the new cathedral and its design and construction but also the complex politics, science and philosophy of the day and the ambitions of the extraordinary men who created the first truly modern city.' (Lucy Moore )

'A fascinating picture of the rebirth of London after the Fire and the men who made it happen, combining the history of ideas, architecture and the life of the city in a riveting narrative.' (Jenny Uglow )

'makes us see St Paul's as if for the first time, a remarkable achievement.' (Jonathan Glancey )

'Leo Hollis has set himself a daunting task in giving us the biographies of five men, recounting the history of England...He has brought it off triumphantly. The entire work is written in lively modern English without a trace of scholastic starch as Hollis successfully juggles the lives of the men while riding the uneasy monocycle of 17th-century politics and religious debate to give us a thoroughly engrossing adventure story.' (SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY )

' a fascinating book' (Peter Lewis THE DAILY MAIL )

'the political obstacles... and the social detail of modern London on the make are consistently fascinating.' (RA ARTS MAGAZINE )

' In a vivid and engaging narrative, rich in detail, he describes the history of england from thr outbreak of the civil war to the birth of the empire, describing cultural and intellectual change as well as political and constitutional events.' (BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE )

'Hollis weaves together the stories of Wren and four contemporaries who each had a strong influence on the rebirth of London in the decades after the Great Fire of 1666 . . . a skilful and enjoyable mix of biography and history.' (HISTORY TODAY )

'an ingenious and fluent overview of extraordinary men at an extraordinary moment, with St Paul's standing as its symbolic heart' (Michael Prodger, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )

'Hollis's book is an enjoyable read' (Lisa Jardine, GUARDIAN )

'Hollis weaves a lively tale of modern London's birth, beginning with a riveting street-by-street account of the fire as it spread from Thomas Farriner's bakery in Pudding Lane' (SUNDAY TIMES )

'What makes this book so fascinating, though, is not just the rich detail, but also its explanations of the emergence of the new thinking that so profoundly shaped the spirit of the age.' (INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY )

'His book is a tour de force of biography, history, politics, philosophy and experimental science.' (ECONOMIST )

'Hollis is a historian with a novelist's eye for dramatic detail, and an infectious affection for both his subject and his five men...... The Phoenix is an extremely entertaining work of popular history' (CATHOLIC HERALD )

'With Hollis as our knowledgeable guide, we watch as a new, vigorous spirit pervades the City of London... It is this new, enthralling spirit, just as much as Wren's 'puzzle in stone', that is the true subject of Leo Hollis's fine book. (MAIL ON SUNDAY )

See all Product Description

3 Reviews 5 star:  (1) 4 star:  (1) 3 star:  (1) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   3 of 4 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Rebuilding London, 30 Jun 2008 By  Cromwell (Hampshire England) - See all my reviews This is well researched and very readable account of the financial, engineering and political problems which had to be overcome in building St Pauls Cathedral. It gives a considerable insight into the forces which shaped modern London and the lives of the prominent people involved. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   6 of 10 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Out of the ashes - a great and well-told story., 2 Jun 2008 By  Bill Hanslip (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews The intricate and human story of the rebuilding of St Paul's after the Great Fire is the drumbeat to which this book marches, and that alone keeps you turning the pages - but it is much more than the story of the vast difficulties Christopher Wren overcame in pushing his vision for the cathedral to its final bold conclusion. Wren's architecture was indeed philosophy as well as politics expressed in stone. Leo Hollis does an expert job of weaving Locke's developing political philosophy into the process, while Evelyn and the increasingly deranged Hooke stride through the burnt-out ruins of London laying the ground for its problematic rebirth. 'The Phoenix' gives an excellent insight into the the seventeenth century turning point that produced modern London and there's a rogue we can all enjoy hating in Barbon, the prototype of the modern property developer. It's a very good read. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   3 of 7 people found the following review helpful: 3.0 out of 5 stars Nice try, but no cigar, 18 Jun 2008 By  T. Burkard (Norwich, England) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    Leo Hollis started with a promising concept: showing how innovative intellects combined to shape history at a critical juncture. And there can be no doubt--the Restoration and the Dutch invasion of 1688 were key events that must be understood by anyone who has ever wondered why and how Britain transformed the world. And transform it, it did. Under the Stuarts, Britain was a third-rate power, dependent upon French subsidies. A century and a half later, Britain's industrial, political and financial revolutions had begun the process by which the majority of mankind have been freed from hunger and hardship. Alas, Hollis hasn't quite pulled it off. The central threads of the book--the rebuilding of London (and more specifically, St Pauls) after the fire of London--are more symptoms than causes of the remarkable changes that occurred after 1666. Even though I was intrigued by his inclusion of Nicholas Barbon--Britain's first property speculator, and an original thinker who has hitherto received little notice--the book doesn't quite work as a narrative, or as a coherent overview of intellectual, political and commercial change. The subject is just too big. This said, it's not a bad read, and I daresay that non-specialists will learn a lot from it. But it doesn't really rank with the many first-class popular histories that are now appearing. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 3 customer reviews...		Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

the 2009 Reading List: A list by Whimsical Witch "a book loving witch"   Recent/Not Yet Published History Highlights: A list by coldwarm "hans"   Our Bookgroup Books: A list by C "cambridgelass" Create a Listmania! list

Search Listmania!

• Books > History > Britain & Ireland > Early Modern 1501-1700 (Tudors, Stuarts, Commonwealth, Restoration, Glorious Revolution)
• Books > History > Cultural History > London

• Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
• I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
• I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.