London: A History

· Modern Library chronicles Llibre 18 · Modern Library
Llibre electrònic
240
Pàgines
Apte
No es verifiquen les puntuacions ni les ressenyes Més informació

Sobre aquest llibre

In its two thousand years of history, London has ruled a rainy island and a globe-spanning empire, it has endured plague and fire and bombing, it has nurtured and destroyed poets and kings, revolutionaries and financiers, geniuses and visionaries of every stripe. To distill the magic and the majesty of this infinitely enthralling city into a single brief volume would seem an impossible task–yet acclaimed biographer and novelist A. N. Wilson brilliantly accomplishes it in London: A History.

Founded by the Romans, London was a flourishing provincial capital before falling into ruin with the rest of the Roman Empire. Centuries passed before the city rose to prominence once again when William the Conqueror chose to be crowned king in Westminster Abbey. In
Chaucer’s day, London Bridge opened the way for expansion over the Thames. By the time Shakespeare’s plays were being mounted at the Globe, London was a dense, seething, and explosively growing metropolis–a city of brothels and taverns and delicate new palaces and pleasure gardens.

With deftly sketched vignettes and memorable portraits in miniature, Wilson conjures up the essence of London through the ages–high finance and gambling during the Georgian age, John Nash’s stunning urban makeover at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, the waves of building and immigration that transformed London beyond recognition during the reign of Queen Victoria, the devastation of the two world wars, the painful and corrupt postwar rebuilding effort, and finally the glamorous, polyglot, expensive, and sometimes ridiculous London of today. Every age had its heroes and villains, from church builder Christopher Wren to jail breaker Jack Sheppard, from urbane wit Samuel Johnson to wartime prime minister Winston Churchill, and Wilson places each one in the drama of London’s history.
Exuberant, opinionated, surprising, often funny, A. N. Wilson’s London is the perfect match of author and subject. In a one short irresistible volume, Wilson gives us the essence of the people, the architecture, the intrigue, the art and literature and history that make London one of the most fascinating cities in the world.

Sobre l'autor

A. N. Wilson was born in 1950 and educated at New College, Oxford, England. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he has held a prominent position in the world of literature and journalism. He is an award-winning biographer and a celebrated novelist, winning prizes for much of his fiction. He lives in North London.

Puntua aquest llibre electrònic

Dona'ns la teva opinió.

Informació de lectura

Telèfons intel·ligents i tauletes
Instal·la l'aplicació Google Play Llibres per a Android i per a iPad i iPhone. Aquesta aplicació se sincronitza automàticament amb el compte i et permet llegir llibres en línia o sense connexió a qualsevol lloc.
Ordinadors portàtils i ordinadors de taula
Pots escoltar els audiollibres que has comprat a Google Play amb el navegador web de l'ordinador.
Lectors de llibres electrònics i altres dispositius
Per llegir en dispositius de tinta electrònica, com ara lectors de llibres electrònics Kobo, hauràs de baixar un fitxer i transferir-lo al dispositiu. Segueix les instruccions detallades del Centre d'ajuda per transferir els fitxers a lectors de llibres electrònics compatibles.