London: A Traveller's Reader (A Traveller's Companion)

About the Author Peter Ackroyd, CBE, novelist, critic and biographer, formerly literary editor of the Spectator and chief non-fiction reviewer for the Times, has won numerous literary awards. His London: The Biography (2000) took the South Bank Show Annual Award for Literature.Thomas Wright, historian, writer and researcher, was editor for Peter Ackroyd's London: The Biography. Product Description Loved and hated in equal measure, London was for centuries the world's greatest city. Its streets, teeming with history, have always worn a variety of influences, reflecting the diverse crowds who have walked them. Its citizens have witnessed everything from pilgrimages, celebrations, acts of heroism and moments of religious contemplation to riots, executions, grisly murders and disastrous plagues and fires. Drawing on letters, diaries and memoirs of London's most interesting inhabitants and visitors, this anthology compiled by acclaimed historian Thomas Wright and with an introduction by Peter Ackroyd tells the story of the city from its earliest years.Here you will find John Evelyn's famous account of the Great Fire in 1666, Dickens's brilliant evocation of the Gordon Riots of 1780, an eyewitness description of the execution of Charles I, and Churchill's recollections of the Blitz. There are also less familiar, though no less vivid, excerpts, which provide an entertaining, sometimes risqué glimpse into the life, customs and morals of this great city. Review London . . . if you want to know it better . . . Ackroyd is your indispensable companion. - Observer Book Description The rich and glorious past of one of the great cities of the world is brought vividly to life for today's reader in this collection of letters, diaries and memoirs of visitors to London and of Londoners themselves. From the Back Cover Good and bad, dangerous and exciting - views of the Greatest City on EarthLoved and hated in equal measure, London was for centuries literally the world's greatest city. Its citizens have seen everything from pilgrimages, celebrations, acts of heroism and moments of religious contemplation to riots, executions, grisly murders and disastrous fires. This anthology is a history of work and capital, of power and exuberance, and of great creativity from a rich host of artists and writers, Pepys and Dickens among them, but also of violent crime, exploitation, loneliness and extreme hardship.Contemporary letters, diaries and memoirs tell the story of the city from its earliest years to the present day. Here you will find John Evelyn on the great Fire in 1666, Dickens's brilliant evocation of the Gordon Riots of 1780, Boswell's description of the compilation of Dr Johnson's Dictionary, and Churchill's recollections of the Blitz. These and many less familiar, though no less vivid, extracts provide a taste of the essential spirit of London.'This anthology demonstrates in remarkable detail that London was the lodestone of the magnet of the traveller through the ages, and helps to illuminate specific aspects of the experience of London' Peter Ackroyd