London In The Eighteenth Century: A Great and Monstrous Thing

Description

Jerry White's London in the Eighteenth Century is an unrivalled, panoramic account of the city's dramatic century of rebirth by its leading expert. London in the eighteenth century had risen from the ashes. The city and its people had been brought to the brink by the Great Fire of 1666. But the century that followed was a period of vigorous expansion, of scientific and artistic genius, of blossoming reason, civility, elegance and manners. It was also an age of extremes: of starving poverty and exquisite fashion, of joy and despair, of sentiment and cruelty. In Jerry White's acclaimed history of London's magnificent and boisterous rebirth we witness the astonishing drama of daily life in the midst of this burgeoning city.

Professor Jerry White teaches London history at Birkbeck, University of London. He is the author of an acclaimed trilogy of London from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. His more recent books include Mansions of Misery: A Biography of the Marshalsea Debtors' Prison and Zeppelin Nights, a social history of London during the First World War. He was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature by the University of London in 2005 and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

White is one of our great chroniclers of London and this beautifully written, impeccably researched and incredibly generous book is a necessity for those of us who are not yet tired of life -- Frances Wilson * Telegraph * [A] page-turner biography of the capital, full of amazing facts and anecdotes, a book that anyone wanting food for thought about social history or human nature will treasure * Evening Standard * An invigorating yet thoughtful tour through the metropolis's most extraordinary and bracing of centuries -- Andrew Holgate * Sunday Times * A tremendous work - well researched, well written, solid and reliable, mastering a complex subject in an authoritative account that is a pleasure to read -- Dan Cruikshank * Country Life * A dazzling account * Daily Express * Spiralling stories enliven every page of Jerry White's magnificent, fully annotated, accessible and scholarly book * Tablet * It's hard to see how a more detailed and readable account of Defoe's 'great and monstrous thing' could be written * Time Out * A vast and impressive synthesis ... [a] wonderful panorama * Guardian * Magnificent * Sunday Telegraph * Magisterial * Daily Mail *