A detailed, informative and well written history book that can be read like a novel as it's engrossing and highly entertaining.
I loved the detail and I loved how the book is structured.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Wow, this book really is so good - extensive and thorough from the first page to the finish. Much praise for Lincoln here, I really enjoyed how the author explored and explained history to us mere readers. From the plague to the great fire, and everything in between, a far reaching and expansive read detailing information from the 17th century and allowing me to learn about a time gone by, but not one that is much different from today.

From fake news, changing trends and culture (like now where we are swapping dark, chunky wooden pieces of furniture for flat pack in white and grey in sleek slim designs) killer diseases and viruses flying around, similar to now where we are all in isolation, shielding and lockdown.

This has so much within its page, it's a crying shame to miss out on, I would definitely recommend to those who love to learn, are history buffs or aspiring to something of the kind, it's clearly been Lincoln's pride and joy to work and write on this, a lot of effort has been poured into this and it's a little bit like a mini dosing of a museum (since we all can't actually get to one atm - lockdown 3.0 in the UK). For me this a 100% recommend and one that I didn't want to finish!

Many thanks to the author, the publishers and netgalley for my free ARC in return for an honest review.

Lincoln has taken a roughly chronological history of the 17th century and focused on the development of one city, London. Encompassing civil war, natural disasters and the rise of commerce, this is a very entertaining yet erudite read. The rate of change in the City over the course of one hundred years is astonishing as London rose to become one of the pre-eminent cities of the world. I particularly enjoyed the insights into the lives of both the rich and poor, the influence of court on commerce and the effects of both the Commonwealth and the Restoration.

(My thanks to Netgalley and Yale University Press for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review)

Margarette Lincoln's London and the Seventeenth Century: the Making of the World's Greatest City brings alive the filth and the drama, the highs and the lows, of a tumultuous century, the bare bones of which should be mostly familiar to those who love history.

It begins with the death of Elizabeth I and her dramatic funeral procession sets the stage for everything that is to follow: disease, treason, regicide, tyranny, conspiracy, coffee, art, trade, cosmetics, poverty, disaster, hate crimes against immigrants and refugees, civil war and a million other things that have seeped into our understanding of not just London as it stands today but England as a whole. It is a uniformly excellent, exciting trip through another world where the turn of every page brings another transformative moment to life, populated not just by kings and titles but ordinary people: artists, writers, diarists, tradesmen, newspaper articles, etc. Wine runs through water fountains on special occasions, poop overflows into neighboring cellars, and angry mobs climb through windows to destroy fancy looms.

I was particularly caught by Lincoln's ability to provide space to women in her book, highlighting their struggles and daily life, and just how astonishingly familiar the challenges of these long dead women reflect that of their sisters today. For instance, we're still trying to convince people that housework is labor and it is impossible to separate women and their experiences from society's fabric because they are people too.

The other thing I particularly enjoyed was the very familiar story of the fall of the Stuart kings amidst their hubris and sense of self-importance coupled with their inability to learn anything ever vs. the rise of Cromwell and the excesses that it provoked in turn - Lincoln turns this very well-known chapter of British history into a living, breathing tale that I very much enjoyed reading. It also sparked a number of thoughts about the systems that keep monarchy alive and how and to what purpose. (And honestly, what on earth is wrong with people who would choose to become kings of England because it seems to be a truly horrible experience. The glitz isn't worth it, baby. Just get a normal job.)

Lincoln brings the book to a close in the reign of William and Mary, with new inventions and a growing empire slowly transforming the city and its ambitions in ways that would only continue coalescing over the next few centuries. But it is the image of a grand London rising to the skies when viewed from lofty heights of wealth and privilege, while the streets drown in pitch dark smog that I take with me - because it not only speaks to the London of a post-Brexit world but also to the grimy realities of "world cities" whose glamour masks the harsh realities of the little people who keep it running.

This is a book for those who know and love London but it is also a fascinating account for those who know nothing about it but what they might have heard or seen in popular media.

This is thoroughly researched and a detailed vivid look at London in the seventeenth century. It is heavy-going, however, and really a textbook rather than bedtime reading! This is suitable for students and those who are very interested in the subject.

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

An impressive, accessible and comprehensive history of 17th century London. It’s one of my favourite history periods, a turbulent century, even more so in London because of the plague and the great fire on top of the civil war but also a century that saw the birth of the Royal Society and constitutional monarchy.

Lincoln gives us political, economic, religious, social, architectural and cultural history of the city and its people, with excellent use of primary sources outside of the obvious Pepys and Evelyn diaries. She is interested in print and newspapers and highlights just how much of what was printed during the civil war years was fake news. Charles I art collection gets a look in, the huge sums of money involved in building it, what happened to it after the dissolution and Charles II’s efforts to get it back after the restoration. Lincoln also makes a real effort to highlight women’s voices, I was particularly interested in learning about Robert Boyle’s sister in the chapter on scientific enquiry and the Royal Society but women from all social backgrounds feature. London’s multiculturalism is also addressed and xenophobia that new arrivals faced. For example, she follows Huguenots, expelled from France by Louis XIV as they arrived to London, where and how they lived and worked but more importantly, the technical innovation and lasting influence they had on production of textiles. I found a lot to admire and enjoy in this history – not least the chapter on scientific enquiry and the Royal Society, highly recommended.

My thanks to Yale University Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read London and the Seventeenth Century.

I really enjoyed this readable and in-depth account of this vitally important century in London. It's filled with memorable images and insights and really helped me understand both the city and the period.

Fascinating, accessible and very readable, I found this was pitched at a very good level for it to be both enjoyable and informative. I have read several books about this particular era of history yet still found plenty of new and interestingly presented information and anecdotes. I particularly enjoyed learning about the lives of the ordinary people of the time and what their daily lives consisted. I would definitely recommend this.

This is a fantastic book about my favourite century in British History. Margarette Lincoln has included plenty of ‘real life’ history in amongst all of the huge changes in Monarchy, the plague, the great fire etc and while packed full of historical information it remains eminently readable!
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of London or interest in British history in general!

An absolute must for anyone interested by the history of London during the tumultuous 17th century. From the city growth & the rise of its business classes, this book is a very detailed biography of a metropolis in full expansion and the many calamities it had to overcome in order to become one of the greatest capitals of Europe. From the political upheavals of the Civil War, the Restoration & the Glorious Revolution to the devastating flames of the Great Fire and the murderous claws of the Bubonic plague, Margarette Lincoln takes us on a fabulous journey through the tenacious resilience of a city full of life & determination when facing adversity and destruction. Packed full with cultural, historical & social details, this "urban biography" is a definitive winner! Bravo!

I wanted to start by thanking NetGalley for the ARC copy and happy publication day to this book!!

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I really wanted to rate this book higher and I’m profusely sorry that I couldn’t. It started off with an in-depth run down in regards to each area of London and what was happening during this time. I felt slightly confused and couldn’t really keep up or keep focused whilst reading this part. It felt kind of jumpy and revolved primarily and heavily on the facts and smaller more intricate details of the city, which I unfortunately found tedious at times.

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I honestly can’t remember much of the history taught at school so this was quite a nice refresher. For example, this may be a bit stupid of me, but I wasn’t really aware of the fact Guy Fawkes was around the same time as Shakespeare, and how close Shakespeare was to the King. It was incredible to read about .

However, even though the history within is gripping, I just found it so hard to pursue on. I feel like I just lost focus and couldn’t continue, I so badly wanted to like this book!

I really tried to finish this book but I just couldn’t. I’m sure it’ll be an excellent read for those who absolutely adore history, but unfortunately, this book just wasn’t for me. I am really glad I was given the opportunity to give it a go though and want to thank NetGalley and Yale University Press for the opportunity to read it. I still managed to learn a few things along the road so I’m extremely grateful.

As the name suggests, this is the history of a century as it relates to London and Londoners. Rather than being the story of a series of events, the author describes how they relate to each other and the effects on ordinary people as well as the ruling classes. So much of popular history relates to the sixteenth century that one forgets what a tumultuous century the seventeenth was - a king beheaded, civil war, plague, the great fire, another king exiled, religious persecution, parliamentary and civil rights. I hated history at school, but had I been given a book like this I'm sure I would have enjoyed it.

My thanks to the publishers for an advanced review copy of this most accessible and absorbing book, which covers how the political, scientific and economic revolutions which ripped through this fascinating century along with plague and fire made London recognisably the city it has become. The text is very well researched and informed with the comments of contemporaries, rich and poor. There are a comprehensive index and a very useful bibliography.

We begin with the funeral of Elizabeth I in a city of around 200,000, about to suffer a plague year in which perhaps 33,000 would die. 70%of men and 20% women could sign their name and 10% of the population were apprentices, inclined to rowdiness, especially on Shrove Tuesdays. Livery companies dominated local governance and women dried washing on the pastures and fields of what is now Shaftesbury Avenue. Shakespeare’s King’s Men performed at the Globe in the summer and indoors at Blackfriars the rest of the year. The fervour and outrage occasioned by seemingly minor religious changes under the Stewarts is perhaps well explained by the way plague was seen as a divine punishment and its horrors are certainly more real to us now.

By the end of the century, 500,000 live in London, the largest city in the world, which has around 400 coffee houses, a press, a Royal Society, the Greenwich Observatory, a penny postal service, joint stock companies, women actors in the playhouses, squares of new houses with central garden spaces, lotteries and a craze for porcelain. Women’s literacy has risen to 50% but still, by an analysis of London’s bills of mortality carried out by a button maker, more than a third of those born die before they are 6 and only 7% reach old age. Autumn is the peak season for dying.

In between we have witnessed the part London played in the downfall,of Charles I, the Civil War years and the Putney debates, the ambiguous London view of Protector Cromwell, the restoration, the great plague of 1665, the huge fire of 1666 and the accession of the House of Orange.

I really enjoyed reading this book and recommend it to anyone interested in the making of London and one of the most tumultuous centuries for these islands.

London and the 17th Century was an interesting and informative read overall. There were some chapters that felt a little dry, but this may be partly because those were the ones in which I already knew most, if not all, of the material from previous reading and research. I particularly enjoyed the sections on things like furniture and changing fashions--the details of everyday life, rather than the political situation--as I had not come across so much detail on those aspects in previous books. Generally, though, the information was well presented and the prose highly readable, with a good balance between giving enough of a description without getting bogged down in dull facts. Recommended to those interested in learning more about England (and particularly London) during the 17th century.

I loved this book, detailing the history of London, in my favourite period of history. Everyday life in London is covered, down to such incidents as the man who had an interspecies blood transfusion, Then there was the effect of the plague, which is highly relevant to modern times, with covid. I highly recommend the book.