Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #433649 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-28
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .1 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The throb and hum of 1900 London reverberates in this superbly researched and richly detailed work of cultural history. Enormous, diverse London was the imperial capital of the day, surpassing Paris, Vienna, Rome, New York and Peking in importance. On the docks of the Thames, thousands of workmen unloaded the riches of the globeAspices, herbs, furs, jute, hempAwhile in the Square Mile of the financial district, thousands of lawyers, bankers, insurance agents, stockbrokers, importers and exporters made their fortunes. Historian Schneer of the Georgia Institute of Technology illustrates how imperial symbols permeated the architecture, culture and institutions of this colossal money-making machine. Zoo elephants evoked the exotic reaches of British dominion; the city's revamped streets provided an imposing backdrop for parades of "sunburned heroes returning from the veldt"; and the white man's burden echoed as a theme in cigarette advertisements, school textbooks and music hall songs. Nor does this fine study neglect the dialectical contradictions of an empire of 400 million people. Schneer identifies racial stereotypes in the Sherlock Holmes stories but also shows how Irish, Indian and African nationalists applied liberal ideologies born and honed in Britain to their own nascent independence movements. Finally, he analyzes imperialist and anti-imperialist sentiments articulated by politicians in the general election of 1900, called the Khaki Election for the color of the uniforms during the Boer War. Schneer's writing occasionally loses its fluidity when he gets bogged down in too much minutiae. But he offers a lively portrait of a city that was not just the capital of a country but the capital of the world in a way that perhaps no other city has ever been. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
London in 1900 was being transformed, physically and culturally, by the empire it controlled, and Schneer (history, Georgia Inst. of Technology) sketches several aspects of that transformation. The book's best section describes the politics of the physical transformation, with a major new boulevard being built through central London. The cultural city was also changing, as the discussion of minority organizations (Indian, African, Irish) suggests. There were even early glimpses of feminism: Schneer provides portraits of activist women like Times writer Flora Shaw. A section focusing on West African gold mines seems out of place, though, having only a limited connection to London's banking circles. Though many of the people described seem interesting, the book itself is somewhat choppy, more a collection of profiles than a coherent whole. Recommended for academic libraries only.ABob Persing, Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib., Philadelphia
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"A very rich and wide-ranging book. The evocation of a great city is vivid and memorable." David Cannadine "This work of magisterial scholarship is a portrait of the city at that empire's zenith and turning-point." Janet Watts, Sunday Times "Jonathan Schneer... vividly displays the inhabitants and leaders of the capital of the world's greatest empire at the apogee of its self-regarding glory." Ben Pimlott, Independent "Specialists will certainly be amused, enterained and informed by Jonathan Schneer's presentation of fascinating information, as he creates a kaleidoscope of images and impressions of London in 1900." Martin Daunton, Times Literary Supplement "What is fascinating in Schneer's book is not how much has changed about London over the century but how little." Simon Jenkins, Evening Standard "... a work of persuasive scholarship, written with verve and insight... this rich and original study..." The Economist "A thorough, impressive tour of imperial London a century ago and of the dissenting voices that finally helped the sun set on this bastion of Eurocentrism. Schneer lets readers view the grimy streets, polished offices, and dockside warehouses of old London, as well as the hearts and minds of its elitist, racist denizens... [A] masterful work." Kirkus Reviews "Elegantly and imaginatively written, [this book] adds a new dimension to the history of the metropolis and to our understanding of the imperial idea at its zenith. It offers instruction and entertainment in equal measure." Peter Cain, International History Review"