This is London
Life and Death in the World City
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This is London
Narrated by:
Joe Jameson
Buy Now for $19.99
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Narrated by:
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Joe Jameson
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By:
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Ben Judah
This is London in the eyes of its the homeless, bankers, coppers, gangsters, carers and sex workers.
This is London in the voices of Poles, Arabs, Afghans, Nigerians, Romanians and Russians.
This is London as you've never seen it before.
Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction 2016
Shortlisted for the Ryszard Kapuscinski Award for Literary Reportage 2019
'This Is London is an important and impressive book' Telegraph
'Full of nuggets of unexpected information about the lives of others . . . It recalls the journalism of Orwell' Financial Times
'Ben Judah grabs hold of London and shakes out its secrets' The Economist
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Critic Reviews
It is hard to overstate the value of what Judah has done . . . This is London is an important and impressive book
An eye-opening investigation into the hidden immigrant life of the city . . . You won't read a more succinct analysis
A revelatory work, full of nuggets of unexpected information about the lives of others . . . [Judah] is a fine, intrepid reporter
Work of this sort really is necessary; this is the stuff we must think about it we are ever to get to grips (assuming it's not too late already) with what lies ahead for our cities. Every MP should be given a copy immediately. On every page lies and uncomfortable truth, in every paragraph sheer horror. It is a book that demonstrably improves the eyesight. Read it, and the streets will look different: I guarantee it. Above all, more than I can possibly say, I admired its author's pluck, determination, compassion and refusal to judge - and I'd like him to know that some of the stories he told will haunt me for a long time to come (Rachel Cooke)
Judah has succeeded in opening reader's eyes to the hardships experienced by many and ignored by most
This truly extraordinary book is as raw, powerful, unflinching, witty, engaging, shocking, in-your-face and occasionally both heartwarming and heartbreaking as the great but complex and flawed city it chronicles. I've lived in London for three decades yet found something I didn't know about it on virtually every page (Andrew Roberts, author of Napoleon the Great)
Having spent the last year meeting people along several of the world's busiest migration trails, it is fascinating to read Ben Judah's powerful account of where some of them end up. Judah has created an alternative and essential guide to London, and Londoners, in 2015.' (Patrick Kingsley)
Mesmerising, trenchant and deeply compassionate (Book of the Month)
A vital, almost overwhelming panorama of brutality and injustice
Ben Judah offers no answers; but bears witness. He reports the stories of London's immigrants with a smart mind, a light touch and a brave and compassionate heart. These statements deserve to be heard. This is London is an important, state of the nation, eye-opening report from our increasingly ghettoized capital city (Dan Boothby, author of Island of Dreams)
This Is London is an exhilarating account of the British capital . . . His writing is visceral, and at its best echoes the immersive style of the great Polish reporter and author Ryszard Kapuscinski . . . He treats his subjects with great sensitivity . . . an important, unflinching piece of reportage. Judah digs deep into parts of London that a less adventurous journalist would avoid, unearthing some of the many tragic narratives shaping a city at the turbulent forefront of globalisation
The author is so obsessed with race that he somehow can tell what ethnicity someone is by looking at them.
Everyone in this book seems to have the same posh rich boy view points as the author obsessed with race, making London seem like a cesspit of violence and hell..
Great fiction writing, but come on, this book is 99% fabricaction.
the 1% creative writers book
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