City of Beasts: How Animals Shaped Georgian London - Paperback

by Thomas Almeroth-Williams (Author)

This book offers a panoramic view of Georgian London, redefining the city's role in the industrial, agricultural and consumer revolutions. It does this by examining, for the first time, the huge contribution that horses, cattle, sheep, pigs and dogs made to the world's first modern metropolis, as well as the serious challenges the animals posed.

Front Jacket

By the early 1800s, an estimated 31,000 horses were at work in and around London, while around the same number of sheep and cattle were driven through the city's streets every week. No other settlement in Europe or North America had ever accommodated so many large four-legged animals, or felt their influence so profoundly. City of beasts reveals the extraordinary contribution that horses, cattle, sheep, pigs and dogs made to the world's first modern metropolis, as well as the challenges that they posed. Following in their hoof- and paw-prints, this book reappraises London's role in the industrial, agricultural and consumer revolutions, as well as key aspects of the city's culture, social relations and physical development. In doing so, it calls for animals to be accorded agency and integrated into social and urban history. City of beasts offers new insights into the lived experiences of Georgian Londoners, as well as the workings and character of a city about which we still have much to discover.

Back Jacket

By the early 1800s, an estimated 31,000 horses were at work in and around London, while around the same number of sheep and cattle were driven through the city's streets every week. No other settlement in Europe or North America had ever accommodated so many large four-legged animals, or felt their influence so profoundly. City of beasts reveals the extraordinary contribution that horses, cattle, sheep, pigs and dogs made to the world's first modern metropolis, as well as the challenges that they posed.

Following in their hoof- and paw-prints, this book reappraises London's role in the industrial, agricultural and consumer revolutions, as well as key aspects of the city's culture, social relations and physical development. In doing so, it calls for animals to be accorded agency and integrated into social and urban history. City of beasts offers new insights into the lived experiences of Georgian Londoners, as well as the workings and character of a city about which we still have much to discover.

Author Biography

Thomas Almeroth-Williams is Research Associate in the Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies at the University of York