By Permission of Heaven: The Story of the Great Fire of London

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Adrian Tinniswood

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Pages: 425 (Paperback)

ISBN: 0712668470

Pub: Pimlico

Pub date: 2004-07-01

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 107237

Editorial Review:

The great fire of London, here documented by Adrian Tinniswood in By Permission of Heaven is an apt reminder of urban disaster 17th-century-style. The story of the fire, which began in a bakery in Pudding Lane, is well-known, but as well as focusing on the fire itself--its cause, spread and its victims--Tinniswood is good at setting out the wider background to the event. He shows how the fire not only followed the devastation of the bubonic plague, but also came in the midst of the Anglo-Dutch war, public resentment at the restoration of the pro-Catholic Charles II and lingering anti-court feeling in the Square Mile (the City had stoutly supported Cromwell 20 years earlier). He focuses on the leading personalities of the drama--the gallant Duke of York, the hapless Sir Thomas Bludworth, the fussy Samuel Pepys, and the visionary Sir Christopher Wren.

Tinniswood is not distracted by trivia. He describes clearly the longer-term consequences of the fire: the rebuilding of the City, the emergence of fire insurance, and the exodus of noxious trades into the outer reaches of the capital. Above all, Tinniswood shows how anti-Catholic and xenophobic bigotry convinced Londoners for decades afterwards that an axis of evil starting in Popish Rome and ending with foreign arsonists was the real cause of the fire. Then, as now, religious fundamentalism and common-sense did not go hand-in-hand. --Miles Taylor

Reader Reviews:

EXCELLENT (10/10 people found this helpful)

This is the first time I've read anything by the author Adrian Tinniswood and I wasn't disappointed.

I've never read anything about the Great Fire of London before and we didn't cover it in history at school to any great length, all I knew was were it started and what a mess it created.

Adrian has done a lot of research for this historical book and has included a lot of information. He's looked at it for all sides and how it affected not just the Londoners but the rest of the country as well.

The fire happened before the bubonic plague had finished and during the Anglo-Dutch war. There have been conspiracies about whom and why it had been started and this book answers a lot of those questions.

He focuses on the leading personalities like the gallant Duke of York, the hapless Sir Thomas Bludworth, the fussy Samuel Pepys, and the visionary Sir Christopher Wren.

The author also describes the long term consequences of the fire for example the rebuilding of the City, the emergence of fire insurance, and the exodus of noxious trades into the outer reaches of the capital.

This book was really interesting and informative, (it also includes black and white illustrations of how London looked at the time).

Personally I found it a compulsive read, Adrian draws you into all walks of life that were being lead at the time and how everyone coped with it. This is a book I will read again, it was worth the novel and for teenagers and adults alike who want to find out about the great fire of London this is an excellent book and I'd recommend it. :-)

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