‘There are surprisingly few good general histories of London, New York
or Paris concerned with where and how people worked, amused them
selves, prayed, or raised families ... Roy Porter has a novelist‘s eye for
telling details about everyday life, and a scholar‘s care for evidence.
book comes to life politica at the end, when he discusses the impact
ofthe Thatcher years on London‘s social fabric; Porter Sees deeply
engrained habits, survival strategies and street-wise pleasures which
have marked the social history of Londoners rich and poor
suddenly corroded within the space ofa decade‘ — Richard Sennett
The Times Lirerary Supplement, Books of the Year

‘It should be read by every Londoner of whatever political persuasion;
by every Briton who lives north of Watford or south of Croydon; and
anyone, anywhere, who is concerned about the current problems and
funire prospects of the world‘s great conurbations. For cities, hke
nations, can only be understood in an historical perspective. lt is that
perspective which this book so brilliantly provides. In more senses than
one, it is a capital history‘ — David Cannadine In the Independent on
Sunday

‘One of the virtues of this account is the range ofcontemporaneous
quotation which Porter provides, giving hill weight to that period when
London was the wonder and the mystery of the world. But he is also
very good on those details which mark the city‘s true and enduring
identity‘ — Peter Ackroyd in The Tünes
‘A fascinating trawl through its colourful past‘ — C Colvin in rhe
Sunday Express