Stow's Survey of London

Stow's Survey of London
Author: John Stow
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 362
Release: 2016-05-18
Genre:
ISBN: 9781533321718

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.

A People's History of London

A People's History of London
Author: Lindsey German
Publisher: Verso Books
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2012-06-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 1844679144

In the eyes of Britain’s heritage industry, London is the traditional home of empire, monarchy and power, an urban wonderland for the privileged, where the vast majority of Londoners feature only to applaud in the background. Yet, for nearly 2000 years, the city has been a breeding ground for radical ideas, home to thinkers, heretics and rebels from John Wycliffe to Karl Marx. It has been the site of sometimes violent clashes that changed the course of history: the Levellers’ doomed struggle for liberty in the aftermath of the Civil War; the silk weavers, match girls and dockers who crusaded for workers’ rights; and the Battle of Cable Street, where East Enders took on Oswald Mosley’s Black Shirts. A People’s History of London journeys to a city of pamphleteers, agitators, exiles and revolutionaries, where millions of people have struggled in obscurity to secure a better future.

London 1870-1914

London 1870-1914
Author: Andrew Saint
Publisher: Lund Humphries Publishers Limited
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2022-02
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 9781848224650

This book conveys the excitement, diversity and richness of London at a time when the city was arguably at the height of its power, uniqueness and attraction. Balancing the social, the topographical and the visible aspects of the great city, author Andrew Saint uses buildings, architecture, literature and art as a way into understanding social and historical phenomena. While many volumes on Victorian London focus on poverty (an issue which is included in this book), the author here provides a broader picture of life in the city. It is enlivened with a rich line-up of colourful characters, including Baron Albert Grant; Henry Mayers Hyndman and his connections with Karl Marx, William Morris and George Bernard Shaw; John Burns; Octavia Hill; Aubrey Beardsley and the artistic bohemians; Alfred Harmsworth and the Garrett sisters, and includes insightful quotes on London by esteemed authors such as Trollope, Henry James and Rudyard Kipling. Topics covered include: the creation of new neighbourhoods and roads; how the Victorians dealt with their housing crisis; why certain architectural styles were preferred; and the fashion for focusing on certain types of building.

London

London
Author: Matthew Green
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2015-06-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 1405919132

Step back in time and discover the sights, sounds and smells of London through the ages in this enthralling journey into the capital's rich, teeming and occasionally hazardous past. Let time traveller Dr Matthew Green be your guide to six extraordinary periods in London's history - the ages of Shakespeare, medieval city life, plague, coffee houses, the reign of Victoria and the Blitz. We'll turn back the clock to the time of Shakespeare and visit a savage bull and bear baiting arena on the Bankside. In medieval London, we'll circle the walls as the city lies barricaded under curfew, while spinning further forward in time we'll inhale the 'holy herb' in an early tobacco house, before peering into an open plague pit. In the 18th century, we'll navigate the streets in style with a ride on a sedan chair, and when we land in Victorian London, we'll take a tour of freak-show booths and meet the Elephant Man. You'll meet pornographers and traitors, actors and apothecaries, the mad, bad and dangerous to know, all desperate to show you the thrilling and vibrant history of the world's liveliest city.

Clothing in 17th-Century Provincial England

Clothing in 17th-Century Provincial England
Author: Danae Tankard
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2019-09-05
Genre: Design
ISBN: 1350098418

Featuring detailed analyses of clothing culture in 17th-century provincial Sussex, this original study draws on previously unexploited sources to create an intimate and nuanced portrait of people and their clothes. An introductory chapter uses 17th-century literature to identify and explore contemporary ideas about clothing, the individual and society, as well as the relationship between London and the provinces and the causes and consequences of conspicuous clothing consumption. Subsequent chapters look at the production, distribution and acquisition of clothing in Sussex and the participation of consumers in these processes; the role of London as a centre of fashionable clothing consumption and the experience of wealthier consumers in shopping there; the clothing worn by individual men, women and older children of the 'middle' and 'better' sort and the extent to which they participated in contemporary, London-driven, fashion culture. A final chapter examines the clothing worn by the poor, including vagrants, parish paupers and the 'labouring' poor. With over 40 images Clothing in 17th-Century Provincial England offers a new window onto early modern experiences of clothing.

Citizen of London

Citizen of London
Author: Michael McCarthy
Publisher: Hurst Publishers
Total Pages: 415
Release: 2022-09-29
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1787389715

The extraordinary story of Richard Whittington, from his arrival in London as a young boy to his death in 1423, against a backdrop of plague, politics and war; turbulence between Crown, City and Commons; and the unrelenting financial demands of Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V, to whom Whittington was mercer, lender and fixer. A man determined to follow his own path, Whittington was a significant figure in London's ceaseless development. As a banker, Collector of the Wool Custom, King's Council member and four-time mayor, Whittington featured prominently in the rise of the capital's merchant class and powerful livery companies. Civic reformer, enemy of corruption and author of an extraordinary social legacy, he contributed to Henry V's victory at Agincourt and oversaw building works at Westminster Abbey. In London, Whittington found his 'second' family: a mentor, Sir Ivo Fitzwarin, and an inspirational wife in Fitzwarin's daughter Alice. Today's Dick Whittington pantomimes, enjoyed by millions, have a grain of truth in them, but the real story is far more compelling--minus that sadly mythical cat.

Second Death

Second Death
Author: Donovan Sherman
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2016-08-16
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1474411479

Second Death seeks to revitalise our understanding of the soul as a philosophically profound, theoretically radical, and ultimately-and counterintuitively-theatrically realised concept. The book contends that the work of Shakespeare, when closely read alongside early modern cultural and religious writings, helps us understand the soul's historical placement as a powerful paradox: it was essential to establishing humanity but resistant to clear representation. Drawing from current critical theory as well as extensive historical research, Second Death examines works of Shakespearean drama, including The Merchant of Venice, Coriolanus, and The Winter's Tale, to suggest that rather than simply being incapable of understanding or physical realisation, the soul expressed itself in complex and subtle modes of performance. As a result, this book offers new ways of looking at identity, theatre, and spirituality in Shakespeare's era and in our own.