The Great Fire of London: In That Apocalyptic Year, 1666

This is a history for the nonhistorian. That is not meant as a criticism. It is meant as a selling point. There are not thousands of footnotes, but do you really read those things?This book should interest historians, people who travel frequently to London and the general reading public who are just curious. It takes us back into the world where death from plague was a daily threat and parents lost child after child. Death was a daily companion. Age 35 was an old man. People married young because they had to. By 40 they would probably be dead--especially women who dropped like flies in childbirth.Then, one night in a baker's house in Pudding Lane the house caught fire. At first it did not look like much but eventually it consumed virtually the entire old city of London.Efforts to fight the fire, led by Charles II and his brother James, Duke of York, were unsuccessful. With the primitive water mains broken, the only way was to dynamite houses.When it was all over, the medieval city was gone to be replaced by ruins. The plague disappeared helped along no doubt by the immolation of the rats. Rebuilding began immediately. We all know (or should) about Sir Christopher Wren building all those churches.And punishment for the fire? One deranged man, who had nothing to do with it was executed.I read right through this book and so will you. Enjoy!

I couldn't put this book down. It's the story of a tremendous fire that wiped out a huge section of London -- all started by one person's stupid mistake -- and how it affected not only London itself but Europe, too. This was a catastrophic fire, unimaginable by today's standards, and this book puts you right in the middle of it. The author also introduces to you in detail just what it was like living in London at that time. Again, those of us in the 21st Century cannot begin to imagine how people lived, what they considered "normal," what everyday life was like, what they ate, what their houses were like, their sanitary systems. It's just so unbelievably far away from today. And you are there, seeing it, feeling it, experiencing it. Neil Hanson has done meticulous research and is one heck of a storyteller. Anyway, if you like living history and have any interest in London (or fires, or catastrophes for that matter), this book is a must. I've read other treatises about the 1666 London fire, and nothing can come close to this. Buy it! Now!

On our third visit to London we stayed in the area where the fire raged. Burning with curiosity, I sought out this book and found the historical background without sensationalism most interesting. It can be dull in parts, but the author brings the politics and the disaster together in an understandable manner.

I bought this for my mother. She is from England. She enjoyed it immensely.

The Great Fire of London by Neil Hanson traces the progress of the conflagration street by street, building by building on all its fronts. Unfortunately the publishers did not include any useful maps so the reader could follow the progress. This oversight detracts fatally from Hanson's exciting and dramatic narrative.Hanson does not give a proper examination of the long term effects of the fire. His examination of short terms effects is cursory. The book ends with a discussion of pyromania.The Great Fire of London is enjoyable (what a complement to give a disaster), but not completely satisfying.

Exceptionally written by the master story teller Neil Hanson. Vivid accounts before and after the disaster put the reader on edge almost like a work of fiction but completely non fiction.

I was hoping this would be reasonably rooted in reality and give me a good historical relating of the London fire of 1666. Nope, it was full of personal drama, and a woman falsely accused of being part of a plot to kill the King, as well as falling in love with her brother-in-law. I get it, this was a tv movie, but it could have been more about the fire than this other nonsense. I've since purchased a book written about the fire in order to get the details about it I wanted.

Excellent

I found the author's use of his imagination over powered the factual information he had to offer. A very lengthy and detailed bibliography and notes useful.