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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Depths of History, November 18, 2011
This review is from: London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets (Hardcover)
There is plenty to see in London, and the prolific Peter Ackroyd has written about the city itself, the river that runs through it, its Great Fire, and much more. In his most recent work, however, he takes us down to underground parts that we don't get to see (except for the famous Underground itself). _London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets_ (Nan A. Talese) is an appreciation of the wonderful and the appalling that supports or slithers within the foundation of the great city. There is throughout a dual emphasis here. We think of the ground beneath us as the realm of the devil, for instance, but also it is where there is buried treasure, if we only knew where to dig. It is the region of sewers, and also of sacred wells. Historian Ackroyd obviously loves the subterranean theme, though, because, as he repeatedly shows, each age is built on the one before, and so the levels of history are written within the soil. This is a beautiful little book, brightly organized into chapters, each of which has a vital story full of intriguing detail. Ackroyd writes with his usual enthusiastic flair, and entertains us with the chthonic demons and treasures. Workmen in 1865 were digging beneath Oxford Street, and found a flight of steps. They descended, and found an arched brick structure, probably a Roman baptistery with the spring bubbling up in it still. Was it rescued and renovated and put on the long list of London's important sights for visitors? No, it was obliterated to make a foundation for a new building. The new constantly covers up the old. Plenty of springs and wells and streams have been buried. There still are streams, but they no longer run down the hills and meander through the fields. They have been redirected underground, conducted through pipes and tunnels and emptying into the Thames, just as they used to do without our help. The underground rivers and sewers were not uninhabited. Official workers had to go in from time to time to clear things out, and they risked getting into a region of no oxygen or being present when the gasses around them exploded. Unofficial workers were also present, the "toshers" who scavenged in the sewers for anything of value. After the horror of "The Great Stink" of 1858, London installed a sewer system that is still working today. You know of Christopher Wren's masterpieces aboveground, but Ackroyd cites Joseph Bazalgette as an engineer of genius who devised the comparable masterpiece of the sewers below. Of course the Tube gets its chapters. The first escalator was installed in 1911, and it was a sensation. Some people were frightened of the machines, but the management hired a man with a wooden leg to ride up and down to demonstrate that there was nothing to fear. Ackroyd's style is solidly literary, with plenty of erudite references to classical and biblical legends of the underworld. He conveys with eagerness the gloom and danger but also the fascination and historical richness of the unseen depths. He takes in a large amount of history, gathered into chapter themes that are more-or-less chronological. It is not always a pretty or hygienic picture, but it is fascinating on every page.
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18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting AND boring at the same time, and quite short, December 5, 2011
This review is from: London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets (Hardcover)
I learned about this book via an NPR radio interview with the author. It sounded fascinating, and Mr. Ackroyd sounded like he could elaborate well and tell a good story, in addition to listing facts about the historical and rare glimpse into the subterranean world under this great city. Unfortunately, this book read like a long list of facts. Facts, facts, facts. Under this building is x. Beneath that grate is y. Etc, etc etc. A single paragraph could tell you about a dozen different underground "things," yet apart from rattling them off, one or two per sentence, there was usually very little or no context, interesting tidbits about the fact, or story to make it truly an interesting read. The content of this book could have been formatted as a very long bulleted list of all the underground places of interest and it would have been no less interesting. Where the author does once in a while depart into a story or anecdote, it's short, too infrequent, and fails to hold enough of my interest. Not to mention, on my Kindle, the book abruptly ended with a short chapter about aliens forcing our future human generations into the sewers, at just 61% of the way through! (the remaining 39% was bibliography, glossary, etc.). This is my first book review, and I read a lot, so this book obviously had enough of an impact on me to go out of my way to write this. I thought the price was a little steep but expected a very interesting read. Yes, some parts were interesting, and I learned a lot of FACTS, such that if I was to go to London and want to explore hidden places I probably couldn't get access to, I'd make a list from this book, but it wasn't fascinating, nor did I feel it was a good value.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing, December 29, 2011
This review is from: London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets (Hardcover)
How can a book by Peter Ackroyd be disappointing? He is among the most erudite of contemporary historians. His works are the perfect balance of historical fact and engaging writing. He is a gifted writer of fiction and non-fiction. Any reader familiar with his work would expect 'London Under' to be another example of his considerable skill. Instead, as other reviewers agree, this little book is a disappointment. Perhaps readers should be grateful that it is so short, because it is a clumsy collection of facts hastily flung together and coupled with vague gestures towards historical analysis. Here and there a few shining sentences show Ackroyd's brilliant touch. The rest of the book reads as if a junior researcher had arranged a series of notecards for the author to glance at in his spare time. Chronological hiccups and non sequiturs litter the pages. Glaring omissions will disturb readers with even the slightest interest in the subject; how is it possible, for example, for a study of underground London to make no mention of Churchill and the Cabinet War Rooms, other than in a caption for a photograph? Dull lists of dreary facts bore even the most avid reader; compare Chapter 12: The War Below with the Wikipedia page 'Air-raid shelter'. Only die-hard Ackroyd fans need read this and prepare, my friends, to be disappointed.
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