Boris Johnson

Celebrates modern London as one of the world's most interesting and influential cities, exploring the lives of the famous individuals whose beliefs, cultures, and innovations have shaped its evolution.

The People Who Made the City That Made the World

Johnson's Life of London

Elizabeth Raines

Johnson's Life of London is a book that shows the history of one of the world's greatest cities by giving brief biographies on people who shaped the city. The book starts out with the Romans, expanding their empire to the British Isles and then ends with modern times, circa the 2000s. Some chapters have little tidbits put in them about an invention that changed the world such as the flushing toilet. Overall, Johnson is trying to prove to the reader that London should be considered a city that made and changed the world like Rome and Athens before it.
 I enjoyed that this book showed the stories of some people that I did not even know or ones that I would probably not research into before. (Remember, I am an American reader, so I may not be familiar with some people throughout European history.) I liked how this book did go into some of the early Britons and how they felt about the Romans coming on to their island, I had never read into that before. I wish we could have got more on the country before even then but I understand there is not a lot to go off of. This book did give me some ideas of people I would like to read historical fiction novels on. My one complaint is that the further into the book I got the chapters seemed to drag on and on but again it is likely, because we do have more facts on people and countries the further we go into history. I highly recommend this book if you have traveled to the great city of London or are interested in English history.

Johnson's Life of London The People Who Made the City That Made the World

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