London: A History

If the biography of a city whose history spans two thousand years is compressed to the short written span of only 150 pages, it is of necessity less than comprehensive. Like the late evening news, whose information is a compilation of sound bytes and 30 second highlights summarizing the day's events from around the world, AN Wilson's "London" is entertaining and briefly hits only the highest of the high spots. If a reader limits his expectations to information content at that limited level, then any potential disappointment will dissipate like the mists of an early morning fog on the Thames. Instead the reader will be treated to a very entertaining and informative read that adequately traces the evolution of London from an outlying Roman settlement to a multi-ethnic cosmopolis whose economy is built upon the twin pillars of tourism and world finance. "London is now a town much more like New York than it is like Rome or Paris. It does not have a particularly national identity. The big City institutions are largely staffed, funded and run, as well as owned, by hugely powerful non-British companies, American, German and Japanese. The economy depends upon non-British holidaymakers coming in huge numbers to be fed and tended by, on the whole, non-British restaurateurs, hoteliers, entertainers ... " and the like. I found it particularly interesting that Wilson, like Bill Bryson in his "Notes from a Small Island", makes much of the abysmal state of post World War II architecture and the generally appalling lack of leadership and centralized urban planning in the growth of the city of London. But whatever criticisms Wilson might level at London are also tempered by his obvious love for the city and his optimism that "in spite of all the mistakes made by its administrators, it will meet the challenges of the future". As one of those millions of visiting tourists, I purchased "London: A Short History" as a souvenir with the intent of learning a little bit more about the city that was gracious enough to give me such an enjoyable vacation. It filled the bill perfectly. The few brief pages, for example, that talked about Churchill's leadership and the city's unflappable courage during the London Blitzkrieg were a wonderful, moving summary of the city's finest hour. Highly recommended. Paul Weiss

It is difficult to imagine a better introduction to a complex and wonderful city.

A.N. Wilson has compressed in less than 200 pages of lucid prose the history of one of the world's most fasicinating cities. The energy in London is palpable. "Bliss was it" to be in that city on any Friday as the tubes crowd with eager, energized bodies at the end of the work week. What's remarkable about London, and a facet of the city that I first learned from Wilon's history, is the extent to which the city has really lacked a stable, governing structure. For the first nine decades of the 19th century, Wilson notes, London had no democratically elected body charged with responsibility for health, transport, waste, parks and so on. Indeed, a recurring theme in Wilson is the struggle, which continues to this day, to identify for London a governing structure. His discussion of the bombing during WWII is worth the price of the book. Less known, and at once interesting and disconcerting, is Wilson's description of the sale of commercial real estate tracts after the war. The way those transactions were managed, or not as the case may be, accounts for much of what Wilson finds disagreeable in the London skyline. Wilson's favorite tourist spot is Sir John Soanne's museum. I have not seen it. For me, it would be hard to rival Winston Churchill's war rooms. This small book does justice to a great city, no small feat.

The Modern Library Chronicles Series matches an accomplished author with a given era or place or institution with which he or she has a special affinity. The product is a ?short history,? usually no more than 200 pages. The prose styling is always clean and fluent. It is a worthy series and LONDON is a dependable addition to it. With only 192 pages of text, and some of those taken up by chapter separations, author Wilson, a novelist and biographer, obviously had to make some choices in what to present. Those seeking Roman Londinium and the settlement it was in the Dark Ages may be disappointed to find that the city?s first millennium is dispatched in about 4 pages. In fact, half the book is devoted to less than the last 200 years. For Wilson, London the city, London the seat of Britain has its roots in the Norman invasion of 1066. Governance, commerce and urban design are recurring topics as Wilson moves through eras, with his chapter titles sharply characterizing the emergent themes he finds within. So it is ?Chaucer?s? London, not ?Medieval? London, and not because of the poet?s artistic legacy; it is his London to suggest the value the crown placed on alliances with tradesmen and moneymakers. It is Stuart and Tudor London, not Elizabethan or Shakespearean, etc., up to the end of the Bowler Hat (1960s and 70s), Cosmopolis, and Silly London (present). Wilson is not hesitant to assail the results of poor planning and dismal aesthetics. Like Charles Lamb, however, who could not think of a place more desirable than London at a time when the streets and Thames stank of sewage and citizens were expiring in a notorious heat spell, he also finds it elegant. Because this is filled with good information and flows easily, I probably would have awarded it 5 stars were it not for something that is not its fault: I had already read V.S. Pritchett?s LONDON PERCEIVED, which raised the bar high and begs comparison. In that 1962 book, which isn?t that much longer in length, the author walks through London?s neighborhoods, pulling out a balance and depth of vision that ultimately eludes Wilson.