The City on the Thames: The Creation of a World Capital: A History of London

Guardian columnist Jenkins (A Short History of Europe) delivers an erudite and globally minded history of London. His chronicle stretches 2,000 years, from the city’s initial settlement by Romans through its tenure as the seat of England’s colonial empire in the 17th and 18th centuries, its overtaking of Peking (now known as Beijing) as the world’s biggest city in the 1840s, its near-destruction during the Blitz, and its present status as a global finance capital with “pockets of intense poverty.” While 21st-century London is noted for “sucking in people, money and talent from across the nation, the continent, the globe,” Jenkins writes, that quality has long been part of the city’s character. One of the book’s most intriguing sections documents London’s status as a “refuge to a continent” in the 19th century, playing home to such revolutionaries and republicans as German socialist Karl Marx, Hungarian freedom fighter Louis Kossuth, and Italian general Giuseppe Garibaldi. A lifelong Londoner, Jenkins writes with a deep familiarity and affection for the city, enlivening his considerable historical research. Anglophiles and fans of urban histories will treasure this spirited account. (Sept.)