Table of Contents

PART I. LONDINIUM; 1. urban origins; 2. early Londinium; 3. change and decay; PART II. FROM LONDINIUM TO THE CHARTERED CITY OF LONDON, C.400-C.1530; 4. Londinium and Lundenwic c.400-c.886; 5. from Lundenburg to the birth of a municipal commune c.866-1215; 6. the emergence of the medieval capital c.1216-c.1530; PART III. THE GENESIS OF MODERN LONDON 1530-1700; 7. the rise of the metropolis; 8. religious and educational revolution; 9. political revolutions; 10. the processes of growth; 11. the administration of the metropolis; 12. death and life in London; PART IV. AUGUSTAN AND GEORGIAN LONDON 1700-1830; 13. the growth and structure of London; 14. London and the genesis of the industrial economy; 15. religion, education and leisure; 16. metropolitan politics and metropolitan class; PART V. METROPOLITAN AND IMPERIAL LONDON 1830-1914; 17. structures of the modern metropolis; 18. the people of London; 19. the imperial and global metropolis; PART VI. THE UNCERTAIN METROPOLIS 1914-1997; 20. the inter-war years 1914-1939;, World War II 1939-1945; disruptions, 1945-1997; valediction; Appendix 1: Estimates of the Population of London 1550-1801; Appendix 2: The Population of London and the South East Region 1801-1991; Notes, Bibliography, Index

About the Author

Francis Sheppard is the leading authority on London's past. He is the author of The Treasury of London's Past and the editor of Survey of London, volumes twenty-six through forty-one, published between 1956 and 1983. He lives in London.

Reviews

Veteran British historian (The Treasury of London's Past) and editor (Survey of London) Sheppard serves up a concise book that covers the entire history of the city of London in under 400 pages. Divided into six sections, the book examines Londinium, the city founded by the Romans; the city's development through the Middle Ages to the year 1530; Augustan and Georgian London from 1700 to 1830; Metropolitan and Imperial London from 1830 to 1914; and the modern era through 1997, the latter aptly titled "The Uncertain Metropolis." What saves Sheppard's study from the dangers of dry summary and over-concision is the author's evident keen interest in his subject. A plus is that Sheppard's knowledge isn't limited to London; he offers pertinent comparisons with other cities throughout. However, one modern comparison with Paris, meant to point up the difference between French decisiveness and British equivocation in cultural matters, misfires: Sheppard complains that the new British library took some 26 years to build, whereas the French building was opened only eight years after French President François Mitterrand argued for it. What Sheppard omits is the international dismay over the many ills caused by the haste of the French project. No matter. Sheppard is something like a more shy and modest Braudel focusing on his own narrow isle instead of the vast, gaudy Mediterranean; he earns our thanks for his decades of concentration and for the ever-refreshing zest and affection with which he describes his beloved city. 61 illustrations. (Dec.)