London: The Autobiography by Jon E. Lewis

London: The Autobiography Reviews

• 
  Nicholas

  "Nothing grand, just everyday sadness" - David Widgery
• 
  Carina

  So.. one major thing about this book - it isn't an autobiography - the city of London did not become sentient and write a book about itself beginning in 60AD and covering various 'key' points in time up until the London Bombings of 2005. Had London become sentient I think this might have been a bit more gripping overall to be honest with you!
  
  What this book is, is a compilation of extracts from various people in various walks of life from various times in the history of London. Some of the extracts, particularly those from the Medieval periods, are rather hard going as they're included in their initial Olde Worlde English (and yes I know adding an E onto the end of a word doesn't make it 'old sounding' but you get the gist!). Overall though the extracts are really rather interesting, as we have some first hand accounts from world famous authors side by side with comments from merchants, working class men and women, politicians or just random witnesses.
  
  It seemed to me that a large focus of the extracts were on the lives of the poorer residents of London - to be honest if it wasn't for the changes in wording/writing style it's not that easy to work out what era some of these are taken from - it honestly didnt change that much for them.
  
  In terms of the more modern events - say WW2 onwards - there were some things covered that I had never heard of, for example the Baby Blitz, so that was interesting but for those interested in more modern events this is not the focus of the book.
  
  At times I wish more time had been spent on certain aspects, Victoria's coronation is mentioned and the Great Exhibition, and they both refer to some other 'interesting' things from that period that themselves are excluded? It seemed a bit odd to be honest. Jack the Ripper has one small (detailed for those with a squeamish stomach) account, which... given his impact seems odd.
  
  Overall I found this book to be interesting, if hard going at times. I'm glad I've read it but I highly doubt I would read this again - that said if you're particularly interested in history, or London, this might be something you could return to as I think different things would stick out for you with different read throughs.
• 
  Frances Thompson

  A collection of excerpts from across the last 2000 years documenting London's ups and downs, dramatic growth and life-altering events.
  
  While I should be honest and say I skipped some of the lengthier, older texts, I did get great value out of reading this and learning lots about the city I have spent so much of my life in.
  
  My favourite entries were the coroner's report from one of Jack the Ripper's victims (truly gruesome), the crime reports from Medieval London - specifically the fraudulent baker! - and first person accounts of the Blitz on London.
  
  A must-read for anyone with interest in London and who wants to learn its history in an unusual and enlightening way.
• 
  Val

  The author has collected accounts written about events in London from Roman times until the present day. It is a great idea and his selection gives a good picture of a fascinating city through two millennia.
  He does give a few background notes, but I think you need to know quite a lot more of the history to put these accounts into context. There is some sense of continuity, but it is difficult to follow from these snapshots alone.
  One theme which came through strongly in the first centuries of the book was the way in which the City of London was different from the rest of the country, from the royal courts at Westminster and beyond into the feudal country. London had a level of independence, governed by the mayor and aldermen and driven by trade, not enjoyed by the country at large. This independence was fiercely protected and the city has a long tradition of resistance to monarchs and governments who try to assert their power. Rebellions did not always succeed and supporting usurpers did not guarantee their gratitude once they came to power themselves, but any level of 'power to the people' was rare at that time.
  
  http://www.thetvking.com/images/tvSho...
  Once the city lost much of its authority in later years, then overcrowding, disease and inequality all increased. There are many accounts of dire poverty underlying the capital's increasing wealth. It is not all doom and gloom, there are also several accounts of entertainments and sports enjoyed by Londoners of each age to lighten the mood, but they became more for the privileged few than the mass of the population. London was losing some of its distinction. A brief post-war renaissance of popular culture and social mobility in the '60s and '70s was soon stamped out with the abolishment of the GLC and deregulation of financial services in the '80s.
• 
  Kimberly

  This was a really enjoyable read. Lewis has compiled a collection of really good primary sources for this collection. His forward opens with Dr. Johnson's line "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life." The sources truly reflect this statement.
  
  The voices are primarily native Londoners, with a scattering of internationals (like Marx and Dostoyevdky) who were also eyewitnesses for key events. He starts off with Tacitus in AD 60 and ends with three passages from the 2005 terrorist bombings. The sources included are from all across society, many big names and events, but also a decent bit of the common London experience. As to be expected number of entries are from Samuel Pepys, Dr. Johnson, and John Evelyn. There are also passages written by Queen Victoria and Margaret Thatcher. 2,000 years of London triumphs and tragedies are recounted by the people who saw it all firsthand. Jack the Ripper, the Crystal Palace, the Gunpowder Plot, the Blitz, Swing London, Princess Diana, it's all here in snapshot style. The book includes two sections of illustrations and photographs, which are beneficial. This is an excellent collection of primary sources with a good bibliography and index.
• 
  Cari

  Cut a third of the entries and this book would be fantastic. The vast majority of offerings were vivid and engrossing, an excellent selection, but unfortunately a fair number did nothing but inspire me to skip to the next section. Not all of this can be blamed on Lewis, as certain subjects should have been fascinating but were dead on arrival courtesy of the original writer. What Lewis can be held responsible for are the number of articles that gave me a "WTF? Why is this even included?" reaction, as the subject matter had only minor connections to the overall theme or were so useless and boring that common sense should have landed them in the scrap pile. Just because you unearthed the material, Jon, doesn't mean you have to use it.
  
  Recommendation: skip around, read what interests you and flip past what doesn't hold your attention. Don't get bogged down, which would be easy with a volume of this size, because there's a lot of great reading within these pages if you can find it.
• 
  Geraldine

  I'm surprised at reviews that describe this as heavy or 'academic'. It's a selection of 1st person accounts that romp through the history of 'London'. It starts by being mainly centred round the City, obviously, and makes a few trips to a very few suburbs later on - Brixton is, of course, represented by the 1981 riots.
  
  I found it very readable but it didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know. I enjoyed reading it, but if I could turn back the clock, I probably wouldn't have bothered
• 
  Lisa Ahlstedt

  This is a wonderful book chronicling the history of London, starting with the sacking of Londinium by Boudicca in AD 60, all the way through the terrorist bombings of 7/7/05. Each entry begins with a small introduction, but then is described in the words of someone who actually witnessed the event. Some of the entries do go on a bit too long, but overall the book is a wonderful look back at the great city.
• 
  Pam Shelton-Anderson

  Rather than a chronological history of the city of London, this is a series of documents that are contemporary to the events they describe. It weaves together a fascinating "autobiography" of this great city through several millennia. At the end of many of the documents is a commentary by the author which serves to provide historical context.
• 
  Johanne

  An Amazon cheapy. It was OK the concept is good - excerpts from various works/authors/histories arranged chronologically but for whatever reason it didn't hook me and so I made desultory progress thus the 4 month reading period - it was never the book I most wanted to return to.
• 
  Elizabeth Gibbs

  This is a fabulous book! I read it very slowly but enjoyed the many writings from various people over such a long span of time. For anyone that is interested in London, I highly recommend reading it.
• 
  Denise

  Simply more of the same. Primary sources in a binding. My last broadly focused London history.
• 
  Titus Hjelm

  Got infinitely better towards the end (matter of taste in centuries, I guess...), but still a bit heavy to be more than 'liked it'.
• 
  Lesley

  There are better accounts of London than this one. Most of it was not new to me.
• 
  Tim

  Some interesting facts. But i was glad when I got to the end...
• 
  Judith

  Some interesting observations about London throughout the years, some well known, others not. An interesting read.
• 
  Anna Scott

  Skipped a lot of this one, but some of the entries were really interested. Medieval language was a bit tricky at times but the WW1 and WW2 entries were fascinating.
• 
  Kindra

  Well, it wasn’t my favorite and wasn’t my least favorite. There were parts that I felt very gripped by, and parts that I absolutely slogged through. It felt very connected at times, with fluid, natural connections between time periods and events, and it felt very forced and jerky at times in transitions. It seems like an additional subtitle could be “the book of poverty, major protests and riots in the city”. While that was interesting enough subject matter, because it was peppered with other totally unrelated events to just felt like it didn’t have a clear focus.
  
  I will say that it was pretty broad, and I did get a general sense of the city as a whole-although the focus on poverty and the underprivileged seemed the most dominant aspect of life that was described.
  
  I’m sure people really love it, and I think I can understand why, it just really didn’t do much for me. I found the very beginning, medieval and Roman era descriptions most interesting since it’s the time periods I know the least about. I know it’s hard trying to include the entire history of a city in a book, but this ultimately just seemed to fall a little short.
• 
  Aileen

  A bit of an epic read covering 2000 years of London history. To be honest, I skipped a few of the accounts where the topic didn't interest me that much. I found the first 1600 years very interesting though, particularly those accounts which showed how London began, spread and grew into a large city.
• 
  Edward Arnold

  This book is the life story of London. It brings to life the Capital as a person from Roman times to the present day. This book is a work of art and quite unique. Schools and higher educational establishments often use this book as part of the curriculum to demonstrate writing at its best.
  I highly recommend it.
  
• 
  Helen

  Was hard reading at first but gradually got better. Interesting to hear about moments in British history from eyewitnesses. Gives me a wider appreciation for the city of London
• 
  Frederick Gault

  A very readable eye-witness account of London over the last 2000 years.
• 
  Jack

  Interesting collection of essays about the city by eye witnesses to the events.
• 
  Jeannie

  A collection of source texts which lead one through 2,000 years of London history. Some of the language is challenging, however I found it interesting to dip into