London- a Short History: A.N. Wilson

I pondered in Borders about whether to buy this or Peter Ackroyd’s Biography of London. This won, alarmingly solely on weight (yes physical weight!). And I kind of regret not picking Ackroyd. Don’t get me wrong- this is a well crafted, well written piece of literature. It is historically accurate (in terms of dates etc). The problem. Well, I just can’t bring myself to warm to A.N. Wilson. I find myself wanting to call him all sorts of slightly crazy things!

Why? He manages to talk about the poor in London without ever mentioning Wesley or Booth. Shaftesbury gets a passing mention (but I rather think because he was a Lord). Wilson enjoys the church as designed by Wren, rather than the church as designed by God. I think (and this may be libelous) that he’s basically a grumpy Freemason who wants us to live in the Blitz and vote for Thatcher…

That’s said- its still been a great read for getting to know London and some of its history.

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