Product Description

In this innovative look at nineteenth-century London, Lynda Nead offers a fresh account of modernity and metropolitan life. Taking a highly interdisciplinary approach, Nead charts the relationship between London's formation into a modern city in the 1860s and the emergence of new ways of producing and consuming visual culture. "There has been a raft of books on London ...But none is likely to be as scholarly, as clever or as necessary as Lynda Nead's Victorian Babylon ...Nead has written a wonderful book that changes the way we think about cities." Kathryn Hughes, The Daily Telegraph "compelling ...Nead is writing as an academic, and so it is fascinating to find what might otherwise be dismissed as a novelist's fantasy here given a theoretical underpinning in impeccably sourced and measured prose."Tom Holland, Literary Review "This genuinely interdisciplinary study ...makes a major contribution to our knowledge of the lived experience of the Victorian city." Timothy Barringer, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians "Provocative and brilliant." Susan P. Casteras, Nineteenth Century Studies "Splendid ...Nead brings an art historian's fine sense of visual detail; indeed, one of the most striking features of the book is the wonderful illustrative material. " John Marriott, History Today "An intriguing study of London at the crossroads of modern history ...Well-researched and insightful." Rebecca Ittner, Victorian Homes "An evocative and visually stunning account of the shifting geographies, temporalities, and visions of mid-Victorian London ...Well-researched and beautifully written." Erika, D. Rappaport, Albion "Nead not only provides a more accurate regendering of the historical townscape but enriches our understanding of modern urban experience." Peter Bailey, Journal of Social History

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17820 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 264 pages

Review
"There has been a raft of books on London... But none is likely to be as scholarly, as clever or as necessary as Lynda Nead's Victorian Babylon... Nead has written a wonderful book that changes the way we think about cities." Kathryn Hughes, The Daily Telegraph; "compelling... Nead is writing as an academic, and so it is fascinating to find what might otherwise be dismissed as a novelist's fantasy here given a theoretical underpinning in impeccably sourced and measured prose." Tom Holland, Literary Review; "This genuinely interdisciplinary study... makes a major contribution to our knowledge of the lived experience of the Victorian city." Timothy Barringer, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians; "Provocative and brilliant." Susan P. Casteras, Nineteenth Century Studies; "Splendid... Nead brings an art historian's fine sense of visual detail; indeed, one of the most striking features of the book is the wonderful illustrative material." John Marriott, History Today; "An intriguing study of London at the crossroads of modern history... Well-researched and insightful." Rebecca Ittner, Victorian Homes; "An evocative and visually stunning account of the shifting geographies, temporalities, and visions of mid-Victorian London... Well-researched and beautifully written." Erika, D. Rappaport, Albion; "Nead not only provides a more accurate regendering of the historical townscape but enriches our understanding of modern urban experience." Peter Bailey, Journal of Social History"

About the Author
Lynda Nead teaches history of art at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Customer Reviews

A new and fascinating insight into the growth of London
The story of the expansion of London in the middle years of the 19th century is retold here by Lynda Mead with great verve. She is an art historian by trade and this is reflected in the extensive use of illustrations in this book. However, unlike many sumptuously illustrated books that use pictures to pad out the text the illustrations here are absoutely essential to the views expressed in the text. They show how London was transformed from a rambling, unmapped hotpotch of a city to the modern metropolis that it has become, and which you can clearly see in the book. Mead records how the old districts of London such as Holywell St, notorious for the sellers of pornographic material, were demolished to make way for the new London; in this case Aldwych and the Kingsway.
A particularly strong section of the book is the history of Cremorne Gardens, a pleasure garden that survived much criticism but was finally demolished to make way for the spread of London. The lure of the value of the land to developers was too much.
Overall this is an excellent addition to the historiography of London. I haven't given it 5 full stars as I would have liked a little more on the building of the underground, and the book does sag a little towards the end. However this is still highly recommended to the student of London. Its accessible and most importantly it is a 'living' book - meaning that it reveals a London that is very much recognisable today.

Great material, windy approach
I agree with previous reviewers that this book is worth getting for the value of its source material--excellent illustrations and Victorian texts. Unfortunately the author has been ruined by academia: she sometimes seems more concerned with "entering into a discourse" with other academics in the field than expressing her meaning clearly and concisely. "By accepting Baudelaire's roll-call of the population of the modern city, feminist criticism limits the extent of its revision of histories of modernity. Middle-class women can only be reinserted into this narrative, it is claimed, by attending to the private sphere or by examining different spaces of public life...." Please, please: be simple, be clear, and don't simply parrot the dismal clunks of other writers simply because you feel you need to fit in with their tin-eared approach to language.

very pleasing to the eye(s)
One of the most innovative and refreshing studies on the development of a city. Nead writes in a captivating style that never dulls the senses. A must for anyone interested in utilising the city as a map for history, or any other subject for that matter. The interdisciplinary approach to her subject matter works well without looking pretencious or misplaced, and she presents her sources with eloquence to support her arguments. Two very big thumbs up!!