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tombomp's review against another edition
4.0
A shallow but extremely broad look at all the various aspects of life in 1750-1770ish London. The book is divided into 3 sections on the poor, the middle classes and the richest (with the last section being very short relatively) and each chapter focuses on a particular aspect of life for them. She covers a lot of topics although obviously nothing at greater length than a couple of pages. Although there were obviously times I'd want more detail I never felt like I was being left on the hook and it'd be impossible to really cover everything in detail. The picture she paints is pretty miserable and it's a wonder anyone, even the richest, lived very long. The book is mostly based around primary sources, particularly from The Gentleman's Magazine, with her dry commentary livening things up and connecting. It works well. There are some genuinely funny stories repeated - my favourite was probably the story of "Mr Manpferdt", a supposed centaur advertised in a handbill.
The only criticisms I have are minor - every so often it feels a bit jarring to read some 18th century bigotry and not have push back from the author, although she does much of the time. As said before it's shallow by necessity but gives a good idea of the broad sweep.
As she's not a historian by trade and she's covering so many different topics which obviously nobody could be an expert in all of I wonder how much of the analysis and stuff is backed up by modern historiography but obviously it's not reasonable to expect 100% accuracy to modern research. Just something to keep in mind I guess
The only criticisms I have are minor - every so often it feels a bit jarring to read some 18th century bigotry and not have push back from the author, although she does much of the time. As said before it's shallow by necessity but gives a good idea of the broad sweep.
As she's not a historian by trade and she's covering so many different topics which obviously nobody could be an expert in all of I wonder how much of the analysis and stuff is backed up by modern historiography but obviously it's not reasonable to expect 100% accuracy to modern research. Just something to keep in mind I guess
beth_has_books's review against another edition
5.0
Enjoyed it. I often go to various parts of London so this gives an interesting extra layer to the place. It was written in a light, easy to read style and looked across the range of society.
lizdesole's review against another edition
4.0
A nice folksy way to inform about the past. Could be a little too informal at times-especially when she included her own opinions of things. I found these moments grating. However, it was fun and informative. Although I've read lots on this era, it was surprising how modern it felt by this time (mid 1700's). I can't imagine that a similar book on the Victorian era would feel so different. It's definitely geared towards Londoners (some of the references went over my head-esp geographical ones). She admits that it was much harder to get information on the lives of the lower class but does an admirable job. I do wish there were more images-particularly since she so frequently refers to specific Hogarth prints
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