London: The Biography

If you want a book about the History of London, then move away. This isn't it. This is more a book about the history or, rather, the stories of London. How so?

It's not that History with a capital "H" doesn't feature, prominently at times. There are, for instance, very detailed chapters about the Great Fire of 1666 and how it led to a city to be radically redesigned and rebuilt. Chapters about how such random topics as to how the main centre, heart of the town shifted under the Anglo-Saxons; how to define the East End; or, again, how the emergence of a radical transport system and its resulting sprawling out of the suburbs also falls into that detailed, historical narrative expected in any history book, as are those on language and show more slang which can be pretty geeky. If you love History, then -of course!- you will find some true jewels in here although they will be sparse (sparse not because they're rare, but because if -like me- you truly are in love with London already then you will probably know most of the information put forth by the author...). But that's not it.

London may be famous as an international money centre, a place where greedy capitalists rule supreme, and from a City which could be easily called the European Wall Street. However it is, also, a city which has always sheltered and, most importantly, attracted the downtrodden of all sorts. The sheer brilliance of Peter Ackroyd, here, is to tell their stories and so experiences of London, besides telling how London has been impacted by their presence over the centuries.

Now, clocking at nearly 800 pages (!!) it is, obviously, next to impossible to make a summary that could do it justice. Nevertheless, the emphasis put on socio-cultural history; of how the Black Death affected the poor especially; of the prison networks and fate of prisoners when incarcerated; of the various jobs taken up by the poor in order to survive especially during the Victorian era (many, thankfully, now lost into history!); the vicissitudes of the vagrants and the alcoholics; the race riots that have stained whole communities; and, even, the myths and folktale of otherwise neglected demographics, here is a read packed with exuberance as much as it is with a delightful multitude of trivia.

Is it chaotic? Yes! Is it so disorganised and random in its handling of chapters to chapters that it can feel jarring? Yes! Is Ackroyd's writing style far too poetic and idealist for such an otherwise geeky, academic topic? Yes too! But then again, I personally found that these contributed to shape the book at the image of the city it describes that is, untamed and untameable, bursting with life, and unconcerned for any sense of order. Like with London itself indeed, one will either love to get lost in it and wander, puzzled and astonished and curious and enthralled by it all or, on the contrary, feel completely overwhelmed, give up, and move along as if not belonging. Both reactions are perfectly fine of course, but so be warned: if you do not know London very well already, or are not truly in love with it and its history and becoming, then this may not be the book for you. Otherwise, then you can happily pick it up... and re-discover London as if for the first time all over again! show less

As far as I am concerned, you can have Paris in the springtime. Give me London in the rain.

Ackroyd's book shares many characteristics with its namesake - it is crowded, organic, chaotic, and full of life. It also shares many of the City's faults - it's hard sometimes to find what you are looking for, and you can look in vain for any reason behind the juxtapositions of different cultural artifacts. Nevertheless, anyone who has spent more than the obligatory few days in the obligatory tourist sites will recognize the city from Ackroyd's prose.

One may complain that Ackroyd lingers too much on London's history of crime, social unrest, and dirt. Well, what do you expect of a city that boasts having had the "Great Stink" of 1858? Casual show more travelers, people who are looking for a simplistic history to read while in line for Madame Tussaud's, and anyone who desires a Disney-fied, Mary Poppins fantasy will be unhappy with this book.

But if you want to know what London _feels_ like, this book comes closer than anything else I have read to making me feel like I do when I am there. There is no city better for aimless wandering, stumbling through alleys, exploring the Underground, and observing the small details. It is a world-city grown pell-mell by greed, lust and need, with beauty in unexpected places and quiet rarer than gold, and more precious. In short, it is life. And, as Samuel Johnson famously said, "when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford." show less

First, let it be said, that at almost 800 pages, this book is, perhaps, 500 pages too long. In spite of its curious subtitle "The Biography", there is almost no chronology here. Rather, it is more of a pageant, parade, or slideshow, with each chapter covering a small topic in turn. Within the chapters there is a prodigious amount of information. Ackroyd wants to stress the continuities of London and his presentation is aggressively non-chronological, sometimes skipping forward and backwards by centuries multiple times within one paragraph. One can almost see the thousands of note cards stacked in order, each one waiting for its little commentary. Indeed, if something can be said once, Ackroyd is likely to say it three or four times with show more a portentousness that outweighs the analysis. While very interesting, I don't know what this book is: it's too rambling and chaotic to be history, not analytic enough to be sociology, and not personal enough to be memoir. show less

This book was truly extraordinary.

I was looking for an in-depth history of London, and I certainly found it between this book's covers. [a:Peter Ackroyd|16881|Peter Ackroyd|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1232835556p2/16881.jpg] truly did write a biography of London, from its sprawling streets to its strange citizens. His writing is fluid, and fascinating to read; his use of primary sources is utterly astounding, and somewhat maddening, as the cockney can be a bit hard on the eyes.

[a:Peter Ackroyd|16881|Peter Ackroyd|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1232835556p2/16881.jpg]'s book is told in a very loose chronology. While the 'story' begins with prehistory, and ends in the 80s, not much in this book is linear. He makes London show more timeless, and turns the city into the icon that it is today. The emphasis of the text is upon how little things have changed, even while London is destroyed and rebuilt cyclically. The essence of the city can be found in the hospitals raised upon the sites of druidic wells, the very wells that the Victorians later claimed had healing capabilities.

The triumph of this text is not in the traditional dates and names of rulers, battles, and the like... rather, the triumph is in the fact that it focuses upon the citizens of the empire. Reading this book, you will learn about the conditions of the jails, what Londoner's favorite pasttimes were, how the role of women changed, and how London assimilates the immigrants. You'll read about how little Cockney has changed from the 1500s, and how London's taste for the theatrical existed before Shakespeare came on the scene.

After reading this book, I feel that I have learned more about London than I have from the World History courses I've taken. [a:Peter Ackroyd|16881|Peter Ackroyd|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1232835556p2/16881.jpg] has an eye for what's importance, and brings this city of commerce, violence, and theater to life in a way that no one else has.

Smashing book. show less

I have no words for this book - it's just amazing. I've read it three times now, once before I moved to London as a student, once just because and once before I moved to London permanently, and I will read it again. For a 800 page book thats pretty impressive.

Ackroyd personifies London. Its not just this city with some nice buildings and history, its a living breathing thing. I feel it so much more every day that I commute into the city because of this book.

Ackroyd splits up the massive history of London into easy to read and facinating tidbits. Its a book that you could read in small pieces - if the sheer weight of it is too much. I find that I mean to read just a bit and end up half way through the book before I know it.

If your a show more lover of London read this book - there are no excuses. show less

This was just fucking brilliant. It's not a linear history. Rather, each chapter is a new topic, and Ackroyd covers the history of that topic before moving on to the next topic/chapter. There are chapters on the history of lighting London (torches, gas lights, etc.), one on the behavior of crowds over the centuries, one on churches, one on effluvia (read: poop), one on the buried rivers of London (yes there's more than one)... It's amazing. And 79 chapters long. This mother is HUGE. And worth it. Ackroyd plays it pretty straight, but every so often he'll say things like, "The bowels of God moved, and he took a shit on London." Peter Ackroyd is AWESOME.

The word thorough does not do London: the Biography justice. Think of it as a chronology of London's biggest events from 54 BC to 2000 AD. It is an explanation and examination of culture, architecture, religion, invention, society, education, slang, literature, food, immigration, sanitation, crime, entertainment, commerce, economics, weather... I could go on. There are a lot of opinions about this book floating around. Someone said it took them six months to read it. Someone else said you have to read it before visiting London, while someone else suggested using London: the Biography as a walking guide. Good luck carrying the thing around. It's heavy!
London is the book to read if you want to know what Charles Dickens thought about show more London cats or the pervasive fog; what Daniel Defoe thought about the poor, the prison system, or London's suburbs; or Samuel Johnson's thoughts on public intoxication or witnessing a well-attended execution in a courtyard. Ackroyd's meticulous research has uncovered those opinions and more. You will learn about the Great Fire of 1666 and how no one knew how it started; yet it burned for five days straight. You will hear stories about the infamous London fog and how a man could get lost in the ominous mist. Speaking of ominous, penal and criminal behaviors are discussed at great length. I particularly liked the man who couldn't stay imprisoned. Time and time again he found ways to escape. show less