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Book Reviews


Royal London in Context
The Independent Traveler's Guide to Royal London


by Robert S. Wayne
Distributed by - Independent Publishers Group/Chicago Press
Reviewed by Carole Herdegen

Should you be planning to visit London with a specific interest in accumulating an unbelievably detailed history of London, English and the British Empire, this book with its accompanying CDs is for you. It is also a must for teachers and students dedicated to learning about the historical events and personalities that molded what is today's London, the center of once Britain's Empire.

The book and its two CDs become a virtual tutor of history that brings to life the people and places of England. For the tourist, when in the presence of London's famous places, buildings, churches and statues, the author cloaks each in a history lesson by itself. Similar to the recordings and headsets that one uses when touring an art museum, if and when visiting London's sites, one will require a portable CD player. Of course, a tandem headset is essential when traveling with another person. If one is not actually visiting London, the book by itself or the playing of the CDs at home or in one's car, will provide a wealth of knowledge and information about London, the city that Dr. Johnson once commented, "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life."

Unfortunately, the artisans commissioned to build, sculpture, paint or create London's monuments to persons or events over the centuries also were inadvertently inconsiderate by not placing this extensive and priceless collection of artifacts in chronological order. For example, when visiting the area of Westminster, Westminster Abbey and The Houses of Parliament, one has to accept a mosaic of chronological confusion that spans more than a two thousand year period from the Romans to Elizabeth II. Mr. Wayne has done a brilliant job of research in that his book and CDs provide a cornucopia of historical facts on everything and everyone from pre-Boadicea to post-Winston Churchill.

Even when visiting the more famous tourist attractions such as Piccadilly Circus for example, Mr. Wayne will explain that the most photographed statue in London, the statue of the Greek god of carnal love, Eros, in the center of the fountain in Piccadilly Circus, was actually intended to be the statue of the Angel of Christian Mercy to honor the Seventh Earl of Shaftsbury. (Although I personally lived in London for almost eleven years and studied British history, this anecdotal fact somehow escaped me until now, thanks to Mr. Wayne.)

The reader, or listener, will also become familiar with the works of Christopher Wren after the great fire of 1666, his architecture of St. Paul's Cathedral and another fifty-two churches he designed in Greater London.

This book and accompanying CDs are virtually a college course in the history of almost everything one can see while touring London. It is NOT simply a tourist's guide to London or a collection of interesting observations but a highly researched and magnificently delivered history to an inquiring mind. For those with an insatiable thirst for learning about British history, Mr. Wayne's book has my unqualified recommendation.

To purchase this book online, click on orders@ipgbook.com, www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, www.borders.com, or at your favorite book store.

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