London: A History

Rating:
Summary: Location is everything
Review: How else to explain how the ancient Roman market village of Londinium, no more than 1 square mile in size at its maximum, eventually came to be one of the major finance, insurance, publishing, and cultural centers in the world. LONDON: A HISTORY is just that, tracing the development of the city from the Romans through the millennia to today. The author even offers his views as to what the future holds for London. From someone who says that of all the cities founded by the Romans, "only Paris, Constantinople (Istanbul) and Rome can stand comparison with London", you can therefore expect that he sees a fairly bright future.

Wheras the history of London can hardly be matched by other cities, even in modern times the city stands up favorably. In making modern comparisons with US cities such as Washington DC and New York, the author points out, that nothwithstanding the lack of a skyscraper skyline like the Big Apple, and the monuments of the nations capital, London still has economic and cultural clout to match these cities.

This book is written by a Londoner and one who obviously loves his city and for that we should be glad because it makes for some very interesting insights. The author is also an academic and for that we suffer a bit as his writing style is very dry. The book however is so full of what is worth knowing about all aspects of London life and culture, that it's certainly worth plowing through.

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat dry.
Review: Interesting in a dry and scholarly way. The author assumes you already know the history of England so he doesn't give much explanation about who's on the throne, or about events taking place. He only explains how they affected life in London. Which is all right; just be prepared. I read this book in conjunction with Rutherfurd's London, and the two together gave me a good picture of the city.