Customer Reviews

City State

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This book reads like a series of magazine articles on different aspects of the modern City, the international finance center in the middle of London. The authors make the point that, while the City has always been tied to British government, financing its wars and setting its monetary policy, we know surprisingly little about its role in history. And in the modern era, the City's influence is still understated. As an American reader, I was fascinated to read how the City contributed to changing British attitudes toward money-making in the 20th century, from austerity to semi-socialism to Thatcher to now. (Though also, as an American reader, I ended up on Wikipedia a lot, looking up references to British scandals, political parties and social movements.) The book is from 2002, and I'd love to read the next edition.