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With plentiful literary references, quotations from visitors and boxes covering topics such as Jack the Ripper, Black analyses the pivotal moments in history that make London what it is today. From the influence of the Romans on the main roads, to the long, arduous battles for both royal and political leadership, from Shakespeare's influence on the written word to the impact of the Swinging Sixties, from the influx of those who arrived in the city by ship in the 1950s to the riots that set about change in the 1980s, 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. London's earlier period is covered, but the principal focus is on the last half millennium, the period during which London became a major trader with the trans-oceanic world, the ruler of trans-oceanic colonies, and the English language became an increasingly important cultural medium. Travel through history and jump on to the Tube to discover the tales of our great capital. 260pp, paperback.