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Georgian London
Georgian London
Oct 8, 2024 1:22 PM

Author:Lucy Inglis

Georgian London

In Georgian London: Into the Streets, Lucy Inglis takes readers on a tour of London's most formative age - the age of love, sex, intellect, art, great ambition and fantastic ruin.

Travel back to the Georgian years, a time that changed expectations of what life could be. Peek into the gilded drawing rooms of the aristocracy, walk down the quiet avenues of the new middle class, and crouch in the damp doorways of the poor. But watch your wallet - tourists make perfect prey for the thriving community of hawkers, prostitutes and scavengers.

Visit the madhouses of Hackney, the workshops of Soho and the mean streets of Cheapside. Have a coffee in the city, check the stock exchange, and pop into St Paul's to see progress on the new dome.

This book is about the Georgians who called London their home, from dukes and artists to rent boys and hot air balloonists meeting dog-nappers and life-models along the way. It investigates the legacies they left us in architecture and art, science and society, and shows the making of the capital millions know and love today.

'Read and be amazed by a city you thought you knew' Jonathan Foyle, World Monuments Fund

'Jam-packed with unusual insights and facts. A great read from a talented new historian' Independent

'Pacy, superbly researched. The real sparkle lies in its relentless cavalcade of insightful anecdotes . . . There's much to treasure here' Londonist

'Inglis has a good ear for the outlandish, the farcical, the bizarre and the macabre. A wonderful popular history of Hanoverian London' London Historians

Reviews

Jam-packed with unusual insights and facts about Georgian London. A great read from a talented new historian

—— Independent

Inglis writes colourfully and engagingly, and offers plenty of odd facts and amusing vignettes

—— Economist

Fun, fast and factual . . . Lucy Inglis offers, without breaking stride, a delicious panorama of people, quiddities and oddities

—— Evening Standard

Full of neat character portraits and engaging plots

—— Financial Times

Read and be amazed by a city you thought you knew

—— Jonathan Foyle, World Monuments Fund

Inglis has a good ear for the outlandish, the farcical, the bizarre and the macabre. A wonderful popular history of Hanoverian London

—— London Historians

Pacy, superbly researched. The real sparkle lies in its relentless cavalcade of insightful anecdotes . . . There's much to treasure here

—— Londonist

The Georgians had enough scandal and drama going on to fill a dozen tabloid papers. The rather-fit Lucy Inglis crams it all into this startling book which will have you pining for a taste of those debauched days

—— Sunday Sport

From the Great Fire in 1666 and the covering of the old 'Ditch' where the Fleet river once ran, to the creation of Westminster Bridge, the British Museum and the National Gallery, Lucy Inglis gives us an entertaining romp through well-known parts of London

—— Who Do You Think You Are?

Lucy Inglis leaves no stone unturned, no coffeehouse unvisited and no dark alley unexplored . . . a dazzling tapestry of 18th-century London life emerges. Lively, engaging, fascinating, humorous

—— BBC History

[An] engaging and industrious survey of life in Georgian London

—— TLS

Reading Lucy Inglis's brisk, astringent and highly amusing tour around various quarters of Hanoverian London on Boxing Day is the ideal antidote to the excesses of Christmas and will keep you snugly entertained in your armchair for hours

—— History Today, 'Books of the Year'

Teeming with rich and fascinating detail and engaging anecdotes. A glorious, gossipy, gorgeous insight into the streets we walk every day

—— Marylebone Journal

Anyone who is interested in history and our great capital city will be gripped by Georgian London. This book is full of enjoyable nuggets

—— Soane Magazine

Inglis describes a city that was just beginning to become modern, with all its colourful high and low life

—— Journal of the Islington Archaeology & History Society

Lovingly detailed. Covers the full 116-year period in which the London we know today began to take shape

—— Express & Star

A perfect introduction to Georgian London

—— Georgian Group

A well-informed, myth-busting history of modern Spain told through one of the world’s most intense football rivalries

—— Observer

Rich, engrossing book

—— Michael Walker , Irish Times

A compelling rivalry... From the pig's head thrown at Luís Figo after his switch to Real to the epic matches between Pep Guardiola and José Mourinho, Lowe covers it all

—— The Times

Surprising . . . interesting. . . [Elizabeth Russell] was certainly a rich, famous, extraordinary, cosmopolitan and ambitious woman who by turns fascinated and exasperated the men around her . . . Laoutaris has discovered a lot of fascinating details . . . Elizabeth deserves the years of research . . . Laoutaris has given her; she can now join the gallery of neglected women resurrected by feminist scholarship.

—— Professor Gary Taylor , The Washington Post

Lady Elizabeth Russell is the star of Shakespeare and the Countess . . . Historian and biographer Chris Laoutaris tells the story of Russell's life, her epic legal battles and her capricious, violent world with sympathy, scholarship and vivid description. He has done extensive original research to piece together new insights and map the complex connections of Elizabethan society. Shakespeare's story is a central incident . . . strengthened and illuminated by the broad and deep context Laoutaris has built up.

—— Shelf Awareness, USA

No, we have no idea why the formidable historical figure Lady Elizabeth Russell hasn't been the star of a play or movie yet . . . She's a compelling villain/heroine. Infuriated that a new theatre was opening right next to her home, Lady Elizabeth (who styled herself the Dowager Countess) mounted a furious assault against Shakespeare's new home, driven by religious passion . . . and, let's face it, good old not-in-my-backyard-ism . . . This showdown is presented with verve by historian Chris Laoutaris and virtually every critic has commented that it's a tale worthy of Shakespeare's gifts

—— ‘Bookfilter’s Best of Summer Picks’, Broadway Direct

The season's big mainstream Shakespeare book . . . Elizabeth Russell is a terrific subject for a biography, and Laoutaris is a hugely energetic narrator who brings every detail of his story to life . . . and it's all so entertaining . . . The whole thing is carried off with storytelling aplomb and deep, sometimes ground breaking research.

—— Open Letters Monthly, USA

Always engaging and informative. Readers will get a bird's eye view of court life, religious infighting, political scheming, competing spies and international intrigue at the turn of the 17th century. Laoutaris is an indefatigable researcher and a fine prose stylist.

—— Providence Journal, USA

Hoss’s life is grimly fascinating … Hanns and Rudolf is written with a suppressed fury at the moral emptiness of men like him

—— The Times

Perhaps one of the finest books on the Holocaust and the Second World War that I have read in a long time.

—— Adam Cannon , The Jewish Telegraph

[A] gripping and superbly written book

—— Mail on Sunday
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