This is important journalism, simply listening to immigrants who live on the unglamorous side of London: tenement labourers, litter-pickers, betting shop regulars, wannabe gangsters, low level officials, prostitutes, cornershop clerks, agency carers. It's about poverty, segregation, white flight, boredom, pessimism. This, too, is London.

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fji65hj7 | 3 other reviews | May 14, 2023 |

This is London: Life and Death in the World City by Ben Judah

Great when it focuses on the poor in London - some truly depressing and eye-opening journalism - but far less compelling when it moves onto the wealthy. Judah also often slips into a more fiction-based style which takes away from the great research he does.

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arewenotben | 3 other reviews | Jul 31, 2020 |

This is London: Life and Death in the World City by Ben Judah

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wa233 | 3 other reviews | Jul 11, 2017 |

This is London: Life and Death in the World City by Ben Judah

An interesting look at London from many immigrants point of view, Poles, Romanians, Nigerians, Filipinas, Arabs, etc. A vision of London the city of magnetic bright light and opportunity juxtaposed against the immigrant reality. It is an unrelenting look at the poverty associated with being an illegal immigrant. Though the author does seek out those who are not illegal and some who are obviously wealthy, it is the poverty that pervades the book that will remain with you. Ben Judah attempts to portray their lives through pen portraits of them and their surroundings, while also conveying them in their own words. Many times through the book you feel you've met the person and a window has been opened on their lives. But often it just feels unrelenting. Worth reading as a look at London from another side.… (more)

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devilish2 | 3 other reviews | Aug 20, 2016 |

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