SHORTLISTED FOR THE HESSELL-TILTMAN HISTORY PRIZE 2017
AN OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEAR 2016
Religious strife, civil conflict, waves of immigration, the rise and
fall of industry, great prosperity and grinding poverty - the handful of
streets that constitute modern Spitalfields have witnessed all this and
much more.
In Spitalfields, one of Britain's best-loved historians tells the
stories of the streets he has lived in for four decades. Starting in
Roman times and continuing right up to the present day, Cruickshank
explains how Spitalfields' streets evolved, what people have lived
there, and what lives they have led. En route, he discovers the tales of
the Huguenot weavers who made Spitalfields their own after the Great
Fire of London. He recounts the experiences of the first Jewish
immigrants. He evokes the slum-ridden courts and alleys of Jack the
Ripper's Spitalfields. And he describes the transformation of the
Spitalfields he first encountered in the 1970s from a war-damaged
collection of semi-derelict houses to the vibrant community it is today.
This is a fascinating evocation of one of London's most distinctive
districts. At the same time, it is a history of England in miniature.