Johnson's Life Of London: The People Who Made The City That Made [Paperback]

Boris Johnson is a remarkable character. His flamboyance and unconcealed brilliance and brio make him a type of public figure not presently on the stage in the U.S.

Unlike most books presented as authored by American politicians in our era, 'Johnson's Life of London' has the compelling feel that can come only from a skilled writer in sync with his topic.

Boris Johnson loves London, and he loves life, and he loves writing--and he loves to put on a show for an audience.

Johnson's approach is to guide one through London via her history. He illuminates and brings together otherwise disparate historical fragments through his rendition of the legends of out-sized figures. Here we have Chaucer, there we have Shakespeare. Here we have the incomparable Samuel Johnson, there we have the notorious and engaging John Wilkes. Who but Boris Johnson would follow the inimitable Winston Churchill with the equally inimitable, though nonetheless surprising Keith Richards?

This book has something for nearly everyone. Whether you're going to London, would like to go to London or to remember London--or would just like a touch of London amid your day--you'll savor this one.

Current Mayor of London, active journalist and prominent politician Boris Johnson takes American readers on a breathless bicycle ride through his favorite city--the source of many of his columns and articles in Britain's print media. Amusingly titled 'Johnson's Life of London,' the book suggests that other famous Londoner--Dr. Samuel Johnson, the wit and lexicographer. Certainly, his work shares the zest for life and for words found in the earlier Dr. Johnson. Boris Johnson introduces us to London while walking his bicycle across London Bridge; thus bridging many a gap in history and culture and beginning as he means to go on.

Americans will love this book if they have any interest in the city or any plans to visit it. London's citizens should feel that their mayor has 'done them proud' in this warm appreciation for the major personages, buildings, ideas and movements that make this city--in his eyes--the most vital in the world and the 'nest' out of which so many fine things have hatched. Johnson's scope is vast but not necessarily superficial. His learning is large and, one senses, that this account of his is selective and that he could have told many more equally compelling stories. Bridging the past and present, Boris Johnson takes us back to the first Roman foundations of London and its early tribulations under the onslaught of the furious Queen Boudica. He brings us up-to-date on archeological findings from the Roman era, including an appreciation of the Emperor Hadrian and the beginnings of Christian worship in London and the precursor of St. Paul's Cathedral. He has zippy chapters on Alfred the Great, William the Conqueror, Goeffrey Chaucer and a myth-debunking sketch of the early financier-Lord Mayor of London, Dick Whittington. William Shakespeare and London's role in developing the world's public theaters, the importance of the English language to world history (as exemplified in the King James Bible, as well as through Chaucer and Shakespeare) also come in for Johnson's thoughtful and upbeat treatment. One even gets the mayor's take on the importance of Keith Richards to the music of the Rock and Roll era and the role of London in 'giving back' some musical traditions to the United States. (The Beatles, being from Liverpool, are secondary to his chosen topic.)

This book is a marvelous blend of fact and opinion that only the 'quirky' type of English writer could have produced and it will go on my bookshelf along with other important works about British culture and travel to London.

I love London and this is the most entertaining book I have read about it. Boris Johnson, the present mayor of London clearly loves it as much as the Dr. Johnson who said " When you are tired of London, you are tired of life" This book goes back to the Roman occupation of Londinium and continues to the history of the rolling stones. What a history it has, 2000 years of villages that have combined to make the most vibrant city in the world. The Celts, The Danes or Northmen, the Anglo Saxons, the population that now represents all of Britain's conquests all over the world.I found every word so entertaining and so filled with the greatness of London, I hope he will consider writing another book about London. ONe book is not enough!