Amazon.com Book Description (ISBN 038073236X, Paperback)

Here is seventeenth-century London as you've never seen it. The Restoration of Charles II marked a period of growth in colonization and trade, the rise of political parties, and an increase in the power of Parliament. Restoration London provides a fascinating look at everyday life in the city during that time. Using diaries, almanacs, newspapers, advice books, government papers, personal documents, and more, Liza Picard brilliantly portrays the human side of both ordinary daily living and catastrophic events. We see a fire out of control, leaving a great and prosperous city buried in its own ruins. We witness an enormous rebuilding, with determination from the people and a Proclamation from Charles that London would be "a much more beautiful city than that consumed."

From the splendor of lovely English gardens to pollution-filled air and streets clogged with waste and rubbish; from graceful living, fashionable clothes, and elegant décor to medical risks, plagues, accidents, and early deaths, this unique book describes the simple pleasures and the overwhelming difficulties of the time. We discover the craft of cabinet making, the art of embroidery, and the revival of theater. We are shown the importance of astrology, magic, and superstition in medical care, the labor of housework and shopping, the pleasures of music and dancing, the hazards of sex, the limitations of education, the nature of the laws, the conflicting views of the churches, and the extremes of poverty and wealth.

With meticulous detail and vivid descriptions, Restoration London shows us the people who lived there and gives us a better understanding of who they were.