Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Books
Given the enormous number of books on London, the list below is
necessarily a selective one, with books marked
Ì
being particularly
recommended. London still has many excellent independent bookshops
(see p.429). Most of the books recommended are in paperback, but the more
expensive books can often be bought secondhand online.
TRAVEL, JOURNALS AND MEMOIRS
John Betjeman
Betjeman's London
. A selection of
writings and poems by the then Poet Laureate, who
spearheaded the campaign to save London's architectural
heritage in the 1960s.
Ì
James Boswell
London Journal
. Boswell's diary,
written in 1792-93 when he was lodging in Downing
Street, is remarkably candid about his frequent dealings
with the city's prostitutes, and is a fascinating insight into
eighteenth-century life.
John Evelyn
The Diary of John Evelyn
. In contrast to his
contemporary, Pepys, Evelyn gives away very little of his
personal life, but his diaries are full of inside stories of court
life from Queen Anne to James II.
Ford Madox Ford
The Soul of London
. Experimental,
impressionist portrait of London published in 1905.
Doris Lessing
Walking in the Shade 1949-62
. The second
volume of Lessing's autobiography, set in London in the
1950s, deals with the literary and theatre scenes and party
politics, including her association with the Communist
Party, with which she eventually became disenchanted.
George Orwell
Down and Out in Paris and London
.
Orwell's tramp's-eye view of the 1930s, written from
first-hand experience. The London section is particularly
harrowing.
Ì
Samuel Pepys
The Diary of Samuel Pepys
. Pepys kept
a voluminous diary while he was living in London from
1660 until 1669, recording the fall of the Commonwealth,
the Restoration, the Great Plague and the Great Fire, as well
as describing the daily life of the nation's capital. Penguin's
The Diary of Samuel Pepys
, although abridged from eleven
volumes, is still massive; but contains a selection of all the
best bits.
Christopher Ross
Tunnel Visions
. Witty and perceptive
musings of popular philosopher Ross as he spends a year
working as a station assistant on the tube at Oxford Circus.
Iain Sinclair
Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire: a Confidential
Report
;
Liquid City
;
and
London Orbital.
Sinclair is one of the
most original (and virtually unreadable) London writers of
his generation.
Hackney
is an absorbing biography of the
author's favourite borough.
Liquid City
contains beautiful
photos and entertaining text about London's hidden rivers
and canals; and
London Orbital
is an account of his walk
round the M25, delving into obscure parts of the city's
periphery.
HISTORY, SOCIETY AND POLITICS
Peter Ackroyd
Dickens
;
Blake
;
Sir Thomas More
;
Thames:
Sacred River; London: The Biography and London Under
. Few
writers know quite as much about London as Ackroyd does,
and London is central to all three of his biographical subjects
- the result is scholarly, enthusiastic and eminently readable.
London: The Biography
is the massive culmination of a
lifetime's love affair with a living city and its intimate history.
Ì
Paul Begg
Jack the Ripper: The Definitive History
.
This
book, whose author has given talks to the FBI on the
subject, sets the murders in their Victorian context and
aims to debunk the myths.
Piers Dudgeon
Our East End: Memoirs of Life in
Disappearing Britain.
Packed with extracts from written
accounts and diaries as well as literary sources, this is a
patchwork of the East End with its legendary community
spirit and a dash of realism.
Clive Emsley
The Newgate Calendar
. Grim and gory
account of the most famous London criminals of the day
- Captain Kidd, Jack Sheppard, Dick Turpin - with potted
biographies of each victim, ending with an account of his
execution. Starting out as a collection of papers and
booklets,
The Newgate Calendar
was first published in 1828
and was second in popularity only to the Bible at the time
of publication, but is now di
cult to get hold of.
Juliet Gardiner
The Blitz: the British Under Attack
. A far-
reaching account of the Blitz which dispels some of the
myths, combining first-hand accounts with some
surprising statistics.
Ì
Jonathan Glancey
London Bread and Circuses
. In this
small, illustrated book, the
Guardian
's architecture critic
extols the virtues of the old LCC and visionaries like Frank
Pick, who transformed London's transport in the 1930s,
discusses the millennium projects (the “circuses” of the
title) and bemoans the city's creaking infrastructure.
Ì
Ed Glinert
The London Compendium
. Glinert dissects
every street, every park, every house and every tube
