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.
'White is one of our great chroniclers of London and this beautifully written, impeccably research and incredibly generous book is a necessity for those of us who are not yet tired of life'
Frances Wilson, Daily Telegraph
London in the eighteenth century was very much a new city, risen from the ashes of the Great Fire. With thousands of homes and many landmark buildings destroyed, it had been brought to the brink. But the following century 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. Society was fractured by geography, politics, religion and history. And everything was complicated by class. As Daniel Defoe put it, London really was a 'Great and Monstrous Thing'.
In the finale to his acclaimed history of London over 300 years, Jerry White introduces us to shopkeepers and prostitutes, men and women of fashion and genius, street-robbers and thief-takers, as they play out the astonishing drama of life in eighteenth-century London.
'An invigorating yet thoughtful tour through London's most extraordinary and bracing of centuries'
Andrew Holgate, Sunday Times
'A vast and impressive synthesis? [A] wonderful panorama'
Guardian
