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Book Review
| London's Thames: The River That Shaped a City and Its History. By Gavin Weightman. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2005. x + 150 pp. Illustrations, bibliography, index. Cloth $23.95.
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| The river Thames meanders through the long history of London and an understanding of this river is an essential part of the complex history of this city. In London's Thames: The River that Shaped a City and its History, Gavin Weightman follows the course of this intricate, entwined history and highlights the central role of the tidal nature of this river. Academics may find this book wanting, as it is popular history. As was noted in Booklist, this book "will be a good background-reading source for the traveler heading to England." It is not a footnoted, exhaustively researched, and primary source heavy exploration of the Thames, nor does it pretend to be. With that said, Weightman does well in producing a readable, entertaining, concise, and coherent popular history. |
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Environmental historians reading this book will appreciate the interplay between the natural processes of the river and the cultures of the human inhabitants along its banks. Central to this two-way relationship is the tidal nature of the Thames. The enormous power of the tidal ebb and flow "was harnessed for centuries to supply London with everything from food to building materials, right up to the age of electricity" (viii). The emphasis on this overlooked facet of the Thames is one of the strengths of this book, and the tides made possible "London-on-sea," the seaport of London below London Bridge. Ocean-going vessels still ride the tides up to Tower Bridge, but today most of them are cruise liners reflecting the enormous changes in London's economy over the last half-century. |
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In the twenty-five short chapters that make up this book (some as short as two pages), Weightman employs an interesting device that will please visitors to modernday London. Starting with Roman Londinium, he directs his readers to specific sites in present day London and then asks them to imagine a scene from the past that he then describes or uses the descriptions of contemporaries and travelers. In this way he strips away the layers, the accretions of London's growth and change over the centuries, and reconstructs what once was. This gives one a better sense of the development of London over time, and the geography of the Thames valley overall. |
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Bridges, docks, tunnels, wherries, watermen, and pollution are recurring subjects, and near the end Weightman explores the river's relationship with the current restoration and rejuvenation of the old docklands and the area around the Millennium Bridge. However, the book ends with a somewhat cautionary chapter, "A Strong Brown God." As the Thames valley sinks to the east, and sea-levels rise, ever stronger tides will be pushing up-river and the old embankments and the Thames Barrier itself undoubtedly will be overwhelmed. The centuries-old give and take between London and its tidal river has not ended and they will be adjusting and responding to each other as long as humans remain on the banks of the Thames. |
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Matthew Osborn is associate professor of history and environmental studies at Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vermont. His research interests include the history of industrialization in Britain, British environmental history, and the environmental history of Europe. |
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