BRIEF HISTORY OF LONDON

Why did London become an international city, how has it sustained that position, and what does its future hold? The book is as much about economics and culture as it is about politics and society. It deals with migration, communications, empire and cultural energy, rather than the mechanisms of parish vestries. The principal focus is on the half millennium during which London became a major trader with the trans-oceanic world, and the ruler of trans-oceanic colonies, while the English language became an increasingly important cultural medium, one centred on London.