London 1900: The Imperial Metropolis (Yale Nota Bene) [Paperback]

Professor Jonathan Schneer (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0300089031 | ISBN-13: 978-0300089035 | Publication Date: March 1, 2001

In 1900 London was the capital of an empire that spanned the globe. This text examines the powerful city and its relationship with the British Empire at the turn of the century.

Editorial Reviews

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (March 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300089031
• ISBN-13: 978-0300089035
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #306,696 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating and unexpected voyage, December 8, 2001

By 

Eric Vertommen (Brussels Belgium) - See all my reviews

This review is from: London 1900: The Imperial Metropolis (Yale Nota Bene) (Paperback)

Jonathan Schneer offers a vivid and unusual vision of Imperial Metropolis London. After a quick review of how the city looked like in 1900 he offers us a visit of the London docks, the nexus of Empire with products coming all over the globe, the contrast between earthly richness of the warehouses and the poor condition of the Dockers. We go through the City with brokers's daily live, main financial figures, companies and corporations, how the City is involved in World trade and its influence through global investments. And complete the London official tour with the culture of the metropolis, daily life affected by exotic animals, exotic exhibition and the imaginary visions of dark Africa and Asia.

Alternative London is a great surprise. First, the growing women's role in Imperial Britain through the life of several ladies: The life of a politician's wife, Lady Dorothy Nevill; the life of the most astonishing Marchioness of Londonderry, unofficial secretary of state of the British Empire through her many and influential connections; an activist woman, Flora Shaw; and an admirable protector of African society against Western prejudice and ignorance, Mary Kingsley. One also discovers London radical and Celtic fringe, oppositions to Imperial rule in the World or against Protestant power in Catholic Ireland. It describes the fight of non-Whites, in this case educated Indians, to obtain the same rights and recognition than the Whites. To complete Alternative London, the Pan-African Conference of 1900, the first global reaction of Africans against Caucasian prejudice.

As a conclusion, author describes the Khaki election of 1900, a way to show the various political trends in the Imperial City: Sir Alfred Newton, Lord Mayor and favourable for London to be an Imperial reservoir for soldiers, anti-Semitism of Major Evans-Gordon and its Anti-Alien League, Sir Mancherjee Merwanjee Bhownaggree, a fully integrated Indian adopting the Imperial cause, Burns, a real cockney fighting against Imperialism and advocating for workers right but anti-Semite himself because the fear of loss of London's identity.

A fascinating and unexpected voyage in the first truly global city of World's history whose destiny affected all of us.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Magnificent Scholarly Achievement, May 18, 2003

By 

"joewillie_01" (Eastman, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: London 1900: The Imperial Metropolis (Yale Nota Bene) (Paperback)

Professor Schneer has done an outstanding job in emphasizing the dominance of Great Britain in the first year of the twentieth century. And he has been able to convey that dominance through a profile of significant events that occurred at the heart of the largest empire in history. "The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire," so goes the quote to phrase the period and one can see how expansive that empire is by studying this book. This is, however, a very scholarly book and may not be suitable to the "armchair anglophile" or beginning historian. It helps to have a basis of British history before reading this book.