Violent London - Clive Bloom

The complex and fascinating nature of London has provided fertile ground for bestselling social histories by writers such as Roy Porter and Peter Ackroyd. Yet this is the first time that the capital's 'secret' history has been fully explored - the underground world of radicals and subversives from Boudicca and Wat Tyler to the Anti-Globalisation riots via the Chartists, Suffragettes, Mosleyites and IRA. Violent London is a story of political activism expressed in street fighting and slum warfare, in assassination and bombing, peopled by a fascinating array of demagogues and democrats, lunatics and libertarians, bigots and social revolutionaries. It is also the story of the growth of London as a capital and as a major city, and of the people who live, work, sometimes demonstrate, fight and die in its violent byways. With its strong characters and dynamic narrative, Violent London is a riveting account of past and present conflict, revealing a hidden thread in our living history.

'As I read this superb history, I looked out at my quiet suburban garden, disappointed not to hear the sound of trumpets' J. G. Ballard, Daily Telegraph