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    This is London: Life and Death in the World City
    This is London: Life and Death in the World City
    This is London: Life and Death in the World City
    Ebook562 pages6 hours

    This is London: Life and Death in the World City

    By Ben Judah

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    This is London in the eyes of its beggars, bankers, coppers, gangsters, carers, witch-doctors and sex workers.

    This is London in the voices of Arabs, Afghans, Nigerians, Poles, Romanians and Russians.

    This is London as you've never seen it before.

    Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction 2016
    Shortlisted for the Ryszard Kapuscinski Award for Literary Reportage 2019

    'An eye-opening investigation into the hidden immigrant life of the city' Sunday Times

    'Full of nuggets of unexpected information about the lives of others . . . It recalls the journalism of Orwell' Financial Times

    'Ben Judah grabs hold of London and shakes out its secrets' The Economist

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPan Macmillan
    Release dateJan 28, 2016
    ISBN9781447274803
    This is London: Life and Death in the World City
    Author

    Ben Judah

    Ben Judah is an author and journalist. He has reported from across Europe with his writing on politics and society featuring widely, including in The Sunday Times, The Financial Times and Foreign Policy. His first book, Fragile Empire, was published by Yale Uni­versity Press in 2013. His second book, This is London, published by Picador, was longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize 2016 and for the 2019 Ryszard Kapuscinski Award for Literary Reportage.

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    Reviews for This is London

    4/5

    30 ratings2 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Great when it focuses on the poor in London - some truly depressing and eye-opening journalism - but far less compelling when it moves onto the wealthy. Judah also often slips into a more fiction-based style which takes away from the great research he does.
    • 3/5
      An interesting look at London from many immigrants point of view, Poles, Romanians, Nigerians, Filipinas, Arabs, etc. A vision of London the city of magnetic bright light and opportunity juxtaposed against the immigrant reality. It is an unrelenting look at the poverty associated with being an illegal immigrant. Though the author does seek out those who are not illegal and some who are obviously wealthy, it is the poverty that pervades the book that will remain with you. Ben Judah attempts to portray their lives through pen portraits of them and their surroundings, while also conveying them in their own words. Many times through the book you feel you've met the person and a window has been opened on their lives. But often it just feels unrelenting. Worth reading as a look at London from another side.

    Book preview

    This is London - Ben Judah

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