London

Looking at urban history, this work balances statistics with the words of historians, diarists and novelists, poets and churchmen such as: Pepys, Boswell, Fielding, Walpole, Blake, Mayhew, Wells, Woolf, and Spark. It is a celebration of the city and also an elegy for its decline, with statistics and anecdote, from Boadicea to Betjeman. 'Roy Porter, a historian of formidable range, turns to urban history in this marvellously lucid, informative and passionate book... Porter's facts are always at the service of the narrative, which has a finely maintained momentum, balancing statistics with the words of historians, diarists and novelists, poets and churchmen: Pepys, Boswell, Fielding, Walpole, Blake, Mayhew, Wells, Woolf, Spark, ... a timely and brilliant book.' CLAIRE TOMALIN, EVENING STANDARD 'A vivid celebration of the city, but also an elegy for its decline, bubbling with statistics and anecdote, from Boadicea to Betjeman.' RICHARD HOLMES, DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOKS OF THE YEAR