London: 1750 to the Present

Catalog description

This course explores London’s emergence as a major European capital in the eighteenth century, its international pre-eminence in the nineteenth, its experiences of war in the twentieth century and its encounters with immigration, social change and urban discontent in the postwar period. We will focus on themes in the social and cultural life of London, including popular culture, poverty, urban space, crime, and street life. We will discuss how scholars have approached these histories and use contemporary sources—visual and material culture, court records, newspaper accounts, and literature—to explore the lives of Londoners of the past.