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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 942.1 EAN: 9780385497718 ISBN: 0385497717 Label: Anchor Manufacturer: Anchor Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 848 Publication Date: April 08, 2003 Publisher: Anchor Release Date: April 08, 2003 Studio: Anchor Editorial Review: Product Description: Here are two thousand years of London’s history and folklore, its chroniclers and criminals and plain citizens, its food and drink and countless pleasures. Blackfriar’s and Charing Cross, Paddington and Bedlam. Westminster Abbey and St. Martin in the Fields. Cockneys and vagrants. Immigrants, peasants, and punks. The Plague, the Great Fire, the Blitz. London at all times of day and night, and in all kinds of weather. In well-chosen anecdotes, keen observations, and the words of hundreds of its citizens and visitors, Ackroyd reveals the ingenuity and grit and vitality of London. Through a unique thematic tour of the physical city and its inimitable soul, the city comes alive. Average Rating:
 Rating: - London: The Prison and the Theater I've only had the opportunity to spend a few days in London, so I can't claim to know the city well. But, says Ackroyd - himself seemingly a lifelong Londoner, it's been centuries since anyone can claim to really know the city. His bibliographic essay notes there are at least 21, 778 works on the city, and he doesn't claim to have read them all. Still, he has overturned a fair sized library for this book , added some personal observations, and produced an impressionistic, kaleidoscopic book. Read More Rating:  - HistoryMeet the family of characters and events that go to making up the world's most easily recognised name . This book invites you in and sits you down , to eat of the feast of interesting and intriguing characters that are London . Rating: - Compelling HistoryThis book was fantastic. I could hardly put it down. Since I'm a history buff and London is one of my favorite cities, reading this book was a real treat. Rating:  - Book in search of a good editorThis 773-page book is a good 500-page history waiting for an editor. Too much rambling and philosophizing without enough history and geography. About 300 pages in, the reader begins to realize that Ackroyd is never going to settle down to writing enough history or geography to make the subject really meaningful, and begins to feel cheated by this unnecessary waste of time. It should have been better. Ackroyd also edited a set of photgraphs of Dickens' ... Read More Rating: - alternately frustrating and interestingThis book is at times very interesting. At times it is a chore to wade through the attempts to link places and times throughout history. The author really reaches for connections through history as if making them is the only point of the book. I wonder if he was just trying to find something to link the various subjects so that the book didn't feel completely disjointed. The organization by theme instead of chronology sometimes gives the book this feel. I personally liked that it was not a simple chronology, ... Read More |
