City Of Cities: The Birth Of Modern London

A dazzling account of London when it was the greatest, most rapidly changing city on earth.

There is no period in London's history in which the city was more dynamic, fascinating, innovative and important than the thirty years before the First World War. The transition was profound and touched all aspects of the city and those who lived in it. This is the age of the London Underground (five tube lines were constructed) and the motor car (more Londoners were killed in traffic accidents in 1910 than in 2000).

It is the era of massive urban development, the arrival of electric lighting, large scale social housing and imperial civic buildings. London saw the rise of massive immigration, fleet street and the arrival of mass consumption. It's often believed that the First World War had a revolutionary impact on the tranquil Edwardian era before it. Stephen Inwood shows that to the contrary, the war itself was a product of a period of massive revolutionary change.