Rating: 
Summary: A City of the Senses
Review: Yes, this biography of London describes historical events, but most engrossing to me was the way Peter Ackroyd gives what is virtually a sensory history of this immense, ungraspable city. He discusses the sights of course, but also the sounds (the vendors characteristic cries, the modes of transportation), the smells ( garbage and sewage were a perpetual problem), and London's fog takes on a tactile character.I could have done without the constant emphasis on a couple pet similes--London as body, London as theatre--which are repeated way too often. My other criticism is the way Ackroyd writes about the vast disparity between rich and poor. While the plight of the poverty-stricken is movingly described, he does not make clear why London in particular had such a huge population of homeless compared to other European capitols. He does describe the shock of French and Italians when faced with this poverty, but does not explain why there is such a difference. I was left wondering whether this was the result of social Darwinish or somethin else.I felt squeemish reading his broad conclusion that London "needs" its poor, meant,I am sure, in a philosophical sense, but still...
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