East London

Besant, Walter, 1836-1901Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.6

Word count: 508K words
Chapters: 51

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.East London by Walter BesantAuthor: Besant, Walter, 1836-1901,Language: English, Class: DA: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Great Britain, Ireland, Central Europe, Release Date: Feb 11, 2019

Editor's review

This book is Walter Besant's long account of the East End of London, a work of English local history and social observation, released as an e-book by Project Gutenberg. Its value lies not in offering a comprehensive local history but in recording, through the eyes of a late-nineteenth-century writer, the East End's streets, industries, poverty, and daily life, providing readable primary material for studying Victorian urban society, the transformation of London's urban space, and British social reform thought. The prose carries the observational tone and moral concern of the intellectuals of the time; readers encounter both concrete geographical and social detail and the author's attitude toward urban problems. It suits as supplementary reading for courses in British urban and social history, or for readers interested in London's history and nineteenth-century social-survey writing. Read it alongside a map and period context, and distinguish the author's observations from his judgments.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers studying Victorian London's urban history and social conditions
Those interested in nineteenth-century British social surveys and urban writing
Students needing supplementary material for courses in modern British history and urban history
Nonfiction readers who enjoy experiencing the historical scene through contemporary texts

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a systematic general history or data- and chart-based urban studies
Readers who want only plot-driven narrative and lack patience for documentary material
Beginners needing modern scholarly annotation and critical introductions

Reading tips

Before reading, prepare a map of late-nineteenth-century London and match it against the streets and place names mentioned in the book.
Read the introduction or opening chapters first to grasp the author's stance, then select sections on poverty, industry, and related themes.
Note the author's value judgments as you read and compare them with later urban-history scholarship to form your own view.
If used for a course, assign chapters to different readers for thematic presentations, then discuss together.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a novel or a historical account?

It is Walter Besant's nonfiction account of the East End of London, a work of local history and social observation rather than a novel. It records streets, daily life, and social conditions with the observational perspective and value judgments of the author's time, and should be read as a documentary text rather than literary fiction.

Can I read this book without a background in British history?

Yes, but some preparation helps. The book involves many place names, institutions, and the social context of the late nineteenth century; without background, one may see only scattered impressions. Learning first about Victorian London's urban expansion and poverty, and reading with a map, will make understanding much smoother.

What should I keep in mind when reading the e-book?

This edition is released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain English e-book. Use a reader that supports table-of-contents navigation for easy chapter lookup; note the original spelling and punctuation conventions, and look up unfamiliar place names as needed rather than forcing yourself through every word.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Besant, Walter, 1836-1901 Author

Walter Besant (1836–1901) was an English author whose writings span fiction, history, and works on the city, with 23 titles held in this collection. Judging from the works listed here, his writing is clearly centred on the local history and urban memory of London. He produced a two-volume Mediæval London, covering its historical and social as well as its ecclesiastical aspects, and period-based surveys such as London in the Time of the Stuarts and Early London: Prehistoric, Roman, Saxon and Norman. He also devoted separate books to particular districts—Westminster, East London, and London City—and wrote The History of London. These works are marked by solid local antiquarian research and a wealth of anecdote, and will appeal to readers interested in London's urban development and British social and cultural history. Public information on the details of his life is limited, so no conjecture is offered here.