<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: BUY THIS BOOK AND ENJOY IT
Review: Brilliant book..buy it immediately
Rating: 
Summary: Disaponting, and focused on the players
Review: This attractive looking book was a disapointment for me. While it was clear the author had signifigant knowledge and invested time in researching the full history, the book focuses heavily on the politics and business planning of the underground - rather than the design and engineering, or the impact of the line on the urban planning of the city. I felt the book would be more accurately titled "The key players of the london underground".
Rating:
Summary: A sweeping history of all aspects of the Underground
Review: This is a sweeping, wide ranging history of the London Underground ('subway' to Americans), covering everything from station design to municipal politics to the choice of font for official signs. Halliday discusses how the development of London has affected the subway, and vice versa. One example will suffice: Many know that London's black population is centered in the neighborhood of Brixton, but few know the reason - a Brixton-area subway station, on which construction had stalled, was used as emergency housing for immigrants from the Caribbean after WWII. The eight chapters cover: (1) steam era subways of the 1800s, (2) early electric deep-level tubes, beginning in 1890, (3) the Yerkes era (US entrepreneur takes over the system, 1901-05), (4) the Ashford era (1907-1948), (5) Metroland (subway-oriented suburbs north of London), (6) the artistic and architectural heritage of the system, (7) the two world wars, and (8) the post-WWII era up to 2000. Developments after 2000, such as the 'Public Private Partnerships,' are treated only in a two-paragraph Postscript. There are approximately 70 b&w photos and diagrams, plus eight pages of color illustrations.
<< 1 >>
| 
