Metropolis

The post-big-bang City, docklands, racist hooliganism, the new underclass, trade union defeats, the mounting disparities of the north-south divide...These social and political images of late-twentieth century London seem to mark a decisive break wit the past. But as Metropolis demonstrates, the spectacle of London in the 1980s is not as novel as it might seem. What is striking about London's history since 1800 are the continuities and recurrences which punctuate it.