Mortimer's book roars, races and sings... with a sense of passion and drama and an unrelenting pace

Ian Mortimer's exacting standards of scholarship mean that this book will undoubtedly remain the standard authority on its subject

A compelling page-turner

An exciting and fast-moving account.

Elegant and incisive...a masterful reconstruction

Dan Cruickshank enters this world with relish ... the book's capaciousness and breadth is tremendous, providing much to fascinate, provoke and inform

An original and engaging history of the capital ... Cruickshank pieces together [the] evidence with meticulous care to create a compelling portrait

Richly informative ...This is a monumental work which leaves no stone unturned in its quest to create a full and brutally honest picture of the lives of Georgian London's dispossessed ... The result is a broad panorama and a compelling thesis which can be considered a commendable contribution to scholarship, as well as a gripping read

Engagingly and comprehensively assembled. Dan Cruickshank is a humane guide ... His relish for the subject is clear but so too is his understanding of the harsh price often exacted

Cruickshank brilliantly sketches the wild whirligig of drunkenness, debauchery, theft, exploitation, merriness, subversion, corruption, lust, fantasy, violence, disease, starvation and early death

Witty, elegantly written and memorable

It is the small revelations about the character of Blair that make this book worthwhile

It's a gripping insight into the ex-PM's ten years of power . . . It will take a lot for many people to read his own take on the rise and fall of New Labour, but those that do might be reminded of the charm and vision that swept him to power

I have read many a prime ministerial memoir and none of the other authors has been as self-deprecating, as willing to admit mistakes and to tell jokes against themselves

Paints a candid picture of his friend and rival, Gordon Brown, and of their relationship