| Product: |
Violent London - Clive Bloom |
| Date: |
20/08/03 (100 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Tells you all about, riots and bombs and stuff that, happened in London
Disadvantages: It's quite expensive, as books go, so maybe wait, for the paperback
This is a hefty but worthwhile book. Sub-titled '2000 Years of Riots, Rebels and Revolts', it goes through the history of London describing the notable acts of mob violence and terrorism that have periodically blighted the place. (As capital, seat of government and largest city, London seems to have had more than its fair share of such things.) Its 550 pages take us from Boudicca's complete destruction of the Roman city right up to recent May Day riots and countryside alliance marches.
The first half of the book is more or less chronological, starting with Boudicca, taking in the Peasants' Revolt, Catholic plots against Elizabeth I, the Gunpowder Plot, the Levellers, the Popish Plot and the Gordon Riots, among other things. When we reach the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, chapters become more thematic, their chronological events overlapping, with chapters devoted to Communism, fascism or race riots, before bringing things bang up to date with the emergence of anarchist troublemakers who vandalise McDonalds every year or so. It was written so recently that it even briefly mentions the huge peace march just before the recent Gulf war, although there was no violence on that occasion. (I did follow a group of anarchists to the American embassy that day, and they were, I'm fairly sure, intent on causing trouble. The police were too well organised for them, though, and their numbers too few to really kick off.)
There seem to have been two great causes of violence in London over the centuries - religion (Protestant versus Catholic, lasting from Tudor times up until the late Eighteenth century) and politics (late Eighteenth century to the present day). There are only two chapters in the book covering pre-Tudor activities, these being Boudicca and the Peasants' Revolt, both of which were (perhaps slightly excessive) response to specific injustices. After that it's a couple of hundred pages of Catholics followed by a couple o
f hundred pages of revolutionaries, Nazis, trade unionists and Suffragettes, with the odd diversion.
I primarily bought this book for the earlier events, as I find tales of bloodshed and hardship in pre-Twentieth-Century London endlessly fascinating. It certainly delivers on that front, having, for instance, a great description of my all-time favourite, the Gordon Riots. What surprised me was that I actually found the Twentieth Century stuff rather more interesting, perhaps because it's less familiar to me. All the expected characters and events are covered in some detail (anti-Vietnam protests, the IRA, the Angry Brigade, the Siege of Sydney Street etc). But there are plenty of episodes I knew nothing about, like rent riots in St Pancras in the 1950s, or the running battle between anti-vivisection Suffragettes and medical students in Battersea in 1907. The history of British fascism and racial tension is particularly well covered, from Oswald Mosley and Enoch Powell down to their (even) less reputable thuggish successors.
It's a bit of a different reading experience when you reach the present day, of course. I'm fully capable of reading about the sufferings of others for my own entertainment as long as they're safely buried in the past. When you get to events that took place within living memory (perhaps not my living memory in every case, but certainly someone's) it is rather sobering. Riots and terrorism and violence obviously aren't very nice, and the fact that they do still happen, and in the city where I live, is a worry. But I certainly learned a lot. For instance, I was totally unaware that one of Mosley's favourite marching routes was just down the road from where I live now. And although I already knew a fair bit about 80s race riots, and accusations of heavy-handed and racist behaviour by the police, it's always worth reading again.
I'm surprised that there was no mention of football hooligani
sm, as I'm pretty sure London's seen quite a lot over the years. Another disappointing near-omission was Jack Cade. He led a short-lived peasant rebellion in 1450, and his actions dominate the rather silly fourth act of Shakespeare's Henry VI Part Two. Would have been nice to find out a bit more about him, but sadly he only rates one mention, and in a footnote at that. Oh well.
I spotted one possible factual error, where the author refers to William Joyce's final broadcast. Joyce, formerly Oswald Mosley's deputy in the British Union of Fascists, found his way to Germany where he broadcast propaganda for the Nazis, becoming known as Lord Haw Haw. Reference is made to his final drunken broadcast, but I'm reasonably certain that, although recorded, it was never actually broadcast at all (it's quite amusing, but its propaganda value would have been negligible, since it's basically a drunkard lamenting the loss of the war). He does provide some fascinating speculation about how Joyce escaped Britain at the start of the war, though, so one possible factual hiccup is easily forgiven. I was also alarmed that at one point he refers to Stephen Knight's theories about the Popish Plot. Knight is notorious as being the man who first thrust the ludicrous royal family/Freemason theory about Jack the Ripper into the public eye, and should be treated with a great deal of scepticism. To be fair, I haven't read Knight's book on this subject, it may for all I know be the very model of historical probity, but I can't quite bring myself to believe that.
But anyway, minor niggles aside, this is an interesting book and well worth reading if you like this kind of thing. Clive Bloom writes in an easy-to-read style and explains everything he writes about in more than enough detail to give the reader a good idea of what's going on. He covers a vast amount of history, none of it boring. There are 16 pages of photos, with occ
asional other illustrations thrown in. I think it's still only available as a hardback, so might be a bit pricy (I got it second-hand). But anyone interested in the history of London will lap this up.
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