Customer Reviews

Dr. Johnson's London: Coffee-Houses and Climbing Boys, Medicine, Toothpaste and Gin, Poverty and Press-Gangs, Freakshows and Female Education

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Author Liza Picard tells us right off that she is a lawyer by profession, not an historian. This opens her up to sniffy comments by academics who think no history can be written unless it done in the dullest way possible.

In spite of the fact Ms. Picard did voluminous research and adequately footnoted and indexed her book, she still came in for some sniping. In my mind, it is most unfair for she has produced an entertaining, interesting, breezy account of times during the reign of George III. (1740-1770)

Though Ms. Picard is clearly no fan of the revered Dr. Johnson and has a very poor opinion of biographer James Boswell, they do weave in and out of the text. She divides the book into three sections, The Poor, The Middling Sort, and The Rich. She gives us what they wore, ate, with what they entertained themselves, and how they lived with great immediacy. You will wonder how anyone survived to grow up in filthy, smelly, incurious London. Most surprising to me was the Gin Wars and how pervasive this cheap form of alcohol was among the poor. It had a huge effect on a great portion of the populace for an extended period of time. The ladies' three-foot high hairdos forced them to sit on the floor of coaches when traveling to balls. I couldn't help but wonder if they just slid out the door when they reached their destinations.

"Dr. Johnson's London" is a lively read with interesting details. Ms. Picard does a good job of getting us into the sensibilities of 18th century London. Recommended.

This book is for those who want something more than the obvious. Liza Picard's strength is that she does not attempt to be an historian. She states her limitations and then proceeds to examine the things that are of interest to her in the period.
I enjoyed the fact that the author is present in the text. It adds to the book and reminds the reader that this is one person's description of the life and times of London mid-1700s.

The chapter and section headings are clear and precise allowing the reader to dip into areas of particular interest. Picard brings the period to life with her own style which is rarely boring and never pedantic.

I enjoyed this book very much, which has been criticized as "history lite" by an earlier reviewer. The reviewer is correct that this is not the book for serious scholars of the period. Then again, many potential readers -- myself included -- are not scholars or academics and will find Picard's vignettes of daily life in Georgian London to be a satisfying read. I believe that anyone who has enjoyed such recent popular histories as Alison Weir's Plantagenet/Tudor series and biographies such as Amanda Foreman's Duchess of Devonshire and Stella Tillyard's Aristocrats will find this book enjoyable as well.

Anyone expecting a good story will be disappointed by this book, because it is not a traditional narrative history. Instead, it's something equally as interesting but in a different way. Picard has dug into diaries, letters, archives, and publications of the day to unearth a treasure of miscellaneous but really very basic information about daily life in Johnson's London: what fine silk cost, what tradesmen were paid, how homes were decorated, and the like. The bare bones of the London economy and the personal economies of the aristocracy, the middle class, and the working poor are laid out here. The information is fascinating, and it is indispensable for anyone who reads and enjoys the literature and history of the period, because it fills in so many gaps. All of those who admire Patrick O'Brien's wonderful grasp of the minutiae of life, as demonstrated so superbly in his Aubrey-Maturin series, will immediately appreciate what a matchless resource this book is. It is not a book to read again and again--it is a book to read once and then refer to, often and with pleasure.

Picard covers an era of British social history, the 1700s, that has received relatively little attention. The book is divided into four parts: The first part covers London's infrastructure, and the other three parts cover the three major socioeconomic categories: poor, "middling," and rich, although the rich get rather little page space. There are over 50 illustrations.

This book is reminiscent of an encyclopedia: For each heading there is a description of one-to-five paragraphs, making this an easy book to jump around in as the spirit moves you. A less charitable description would be to say that the style is disjointed. The amount of detail is impressive, and the reader is given a thorough introduction to daily life of that era. The author often launches into remarks that are intended to be humorous. I imagine this was done so the book would not be dry reading, but her comments often seem gratuitous or disruptive to the flow of the material. There is very little here specifically about Samuel Johnson; this is a book about his era, not about him.

I preferred a very similar book, "1700: Scenes from London Life" by Maureen Waller. Waller's book covers the identical material (50 years earlier) and has a more cohesive style of writing.

This book looks deep beneath the surface of London society during the Age of Enlightment and describes in minute detail what life was really like for one and all, from the lowest street urchin to the royal family. The daily struggle for existence by London's residents is covered -- all those unsavory things you probably didn't learn in history class. Overflowing cespits, Orphans apprentenced into professions where an early death from industrial pollutants was a near certainty, bakeries that regularly adulterated their bread with caulk, these are just a few of the many examples found on these pages. No detail is overlooked: What they wore, what they did for fun, the cost of living, the cost of dying, the capricious justice system under which a significant number of lawbreakers managed to avoid punishment, even for murder, while an unlucky few were hanged for crimes that today would draw only a small fine.
I highly recommend Dr. Johnson's London to anyone who is looking for an in-depth look at Georgian London.

I stumbled on Liza Picard's books quite by chance. After looking at the publishing date in some of the books it is apparent some of them have been around for several years. I am now recommending them to anyone and everyone and I am so glad I stumbled across the first one I read on a rainy afternoon, lonely and far away from home. I have now read them all.

As soon as you start to read the book it becomes apparent that the author is passionate about her subject and wants the reader to enjoy the reading experience as much as she has in the writing of it. Liza Picard presents an enthralling picture of how life in London was really lived. The book is about the period from 1740 to 1770 when many great men walked the streets of London, among them Hogarth, Fielding and Dr Johnson. Names that are well known in history, but the author puts meat on the bones and brings these people to life for the enjoyment of the reader.

Liza Picard was born in 1927. She read law and qualified as a barrister but did not practice. Quite where she gleaned all this information from I am not sure. That it was a labour of love is obvious to anyone who reads her books and I for one am grateful.

Dr. Johnson's London is a remarkable compilation of facts about 18th century London including its oddities and reforms that led to modern London. The book is a series of small paragraphs each describing some aspect of London life, infrastructure, scandals, etc. in the 18th century. The book is organized into categories, each covering some aspect of the great city.

While I found the book entertaining, the lack of any narrative makes it impossible to read straight through and can only be taken in small doses. Essentially, this is a bathroom book for history buffs.

I've yet to read a Liza Picard book that I haven't completely enjoyed. No dry histories here. Her writing style makes her books easy & enjoyable to read, but she also packs them full of well-researched information. Learning is rarely this fun.

If only history was always as informative and interesting in its presentation. This is a book which not only makes you think, it also makes you smile as well at times. Full of colour and detail on what was a fascinating period of English history. Very well researched. I can really recommend this to anyone looking for information or simply for a good read.