Why did I love this book?
This book is carefully researched and gives fascinating insights into the area around London’s docks. Rule begins her account in Roman times and takes the story through into the twenty-first century. She is committed to explaining how London’s docks, which employed around 100,000 men some sixty years ago, could so quickly have been swept away, and she shows huge sympathy for the people who lived and worked in the area. What I especially like is the range of sources she uses, from archaeological records to personal interviews.
1 author picked London's Docklands as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
Do you remember the docks?
In its heyday, the Port of London was the biggest in the world. It was a sprawling network of quays, wharves, canals and basins, providing employment for over 100,000 people. From the dockworker to the prostitute, the Romans to the Republic of the Isle of Dogs, London's docklands have always been a key part of the city.
But it wasn't to last. They might have recovered from the devastating bombing raids of the Second World War - but it was the advent of the container ships, too big to fit down the Thames, that would…
