Violent London: 2000 years of riots, rebels, and revolts

Almost as soon as it was built, London suffered the first of many acts of violent protest, when Boudica and her followers set fire to the city in AD 60. Ever since, the capital's streets have been a forum for popular insurrection. Covering nearly 2,000 years of political protest, this is a riveting alternative history of past and present conflict. Almost as soon as it was built, London suffered the first of many acts of violent protest, when Boudica and her followers set fire to the city in AD 60. Ever since, the capital's streets have been a forum for popular insurrection. Covering nearly 2,000 years of protest -- from Wat Tyler to the G20 - this is the story of an alternative London, and an alternative history of the British Isles: outside parliamentary processes and in direct confrontation with the forces of the state. It is a story of political activism expressed in street fighting and slum warfare, in assassination and bombing, peopled by a fascinating array of demagogues, democrats, bigots and social revolutionaries. It is also the story of the growth of London as a capital and as a major city. This fully revised and comprehensive edition contains new chapters on the 7/7 attacks, the deaths of Jean Charles de Menezes and Ian Tomlinson, recent environmental, anti-capitalist and libertarian protest, and a discussion of the importance of current laws on terrorism, civil rights and the policing of protests 1 A Desolation they called Peace: The Destruction of London in A.D. 60 -- 2 'Offence -- A Londoner': The Peasants' Revolt to Evil May Day -- 3 'We'll no need the Papists noo!': Criminalizing Catholics from the Babington Plot to Guy Fawkes -- 4 Free-Born John: Levellers, Fifth Monarchy Men and the Peace Women -- 5 Murderous Fantasies: The Great Fire to the Popish Plot -- 6 George's War: From the Jacobites to the Gordon Riots -- 7 The Ape-Like Irish: The Aftermath of the Gordon Riots, the Catholic Emancipation Act and the Garibaldi Riots -- 8 'Wilkes and Liberty': The Political Riot -- 9 The United States of England: The English Jacobins to the Cato Street Conspirators -- 10 Monster Rallies: The War with the Chartists, the 'Sally Army' and the Rebellious Schoolchildren of London -- 11 Persecuting Pigeons: Trafalgar Square and Bloody Sunday -- 12 'Good Old Dynamite': London's War with the Bombers -- 13 Women Behaving Badly: The Suffragettes -- 14 Huns and Hashish: The Yellow Peril to the German Pogrom -- 15 Comrades All: Red London to Red Ken -- 16 Brave Boys of the BUF: The Origins of London Fascism -- 17 Not Quite Kosher: The Jews of London, Jeffrey Hamm and the Return of Oswald Mosley -- 18 Alien Nation: Indian Assassins and Black Radicals -- 19 The Tiber Flowing with Much Blood: Enoch Powell, Notting Hill and Hackney -- 20 Like Rorke's Drift: Hackney, Brick Lane and Lewisham -- 21 Anarchy in the UK: Private Armies, Vigilantes and the New Cross Fire -- 22 Living on the Front Line: Brixton to Broadwater Farm; the Stephen Lawrence Case to the Soho Bomber -- 23 One, Two, Three, What Are We Fighting For?: Grosvenor Square to Moon at the Monarchy 2000 -- 24 Back to the Future: Poll Tax Rebels and Tenant Strikers -- 25 The Free Republic of Wanstonia: The Fight for London's Green Spaces -- 26 Never Underestimate a Minority: Guerrilla Gardeners and the Countryside Alliance -- 27 The Man in the Third Carriage: 7-7 and its Consequences -- 28 Operation Glencoe: G20, Ian Tomlinson and the Future of Street Protest Front Matter....Pages i-xxxviii A Desolation they called Peace....Pages 1-16 ‘Offence — A Londoner’....Pages 17-29 ‘We’ll no need the Papists noo!’....Pages 30-54 Free-Born John....Pages 55-77 Murderous Fantasies....Pages 78-110 George’s War....Pages 111-132 The Ape-Like Irish....Pages 133-145 ‘Wilkes and Liberty’....Pages 146-169 The United States of England....Pages 170-188 Monster Rallies....Pages 189-213 Persecuting Pigeons....Pages 214-225 ‘Good Old Dynamite’....Pages 226-254 Women Behaving Badly....Pages 255-270 Huns and Hashish....Pages 271-280 Comrades All....Pages 281-293 Brave Boys of the BUF....Pages 294-321 Not Quite Kosher....Pages 322-337 Alien Nation....Pages 338-350 The Tiber Flowing with Much Blood....Pages 351-364 Like Rorke’s Drift....Pages 365-376 Anarchy in the UK....Pages 377-395 Living on the Front Line....Pages 396-421 One, Two, Three, What Are We Fighting For?....Pages 422-442 Back to the Future....Pages 443-456 The Free Republic of Wanstonia....Pages 457-470 Never Underestimate a Minority....Pages 471-480 The Man in the Third Carriage....Pages 481-505 Operation Glencoe....Pages 506-518 Back Matter....Pages 519-594

The complex and fascinating nature of London has provided fertile ground for bestselling social histories by writers like Roy Porter and Peter Ackroyd. For the first time a book explores the capital's secret history - the underground world of radicals and subversives from Boudicca and Wat Tyler to the anti-globalization riots of the Chartists, Suffragettes, Mosleyites and IRA. Violent London is an account of political activism expressed in street fighting and slum warfare, assassinations and bombings. The main characters are demagogues and democrats, lunatics and libertarians, bigots and social revolutionaries. The story traces the growth of London as a capital adn as a major city, following the people who live, work, demonstrate, fight and die in its violent byways. With its strong characters and dramatic narrative, Violent London is a riveting examination of past and present conflict, revealing a hidden thread in London's living history.