London: A Tale of Two Cities

Whilte I'm not a fan of Dan Cruickshank's hyper-enthusiastic narrative style, his story of 17th century London is most engaging. The idea that London rose to greatness on a foundation of scandal; priates, prostitutes, gambling, liquor, human feces, gossip, land speculators, coffee and worst of all French immigrants then thrived after back to back disasters; plaque and fire is remarkable.

Dan delves into obscure sources of entertaining and semingly trivial facts that provided the sparks of London's blossoming. And he tells the stories, with great admiration, of obscure individuals who rose to prominence by establishing new industries that escalated the growth of the city.