(P/B) THAMES

Παρουσίαση

Just as Peter Ackroyd's bestselling London is the biography of the city, Thames: Sacred River is the biography of the river, from sea to source. Exploring its history from prehistoric times to the present day, the reader is drawn into an extraordinary world, learning about the fishes that swam in the river and the boats that plied its surface; about floods and tides; hauntings and suicides; miasmas and malaria; locks, weirs and embankments; bridges, docks and palaces.
Peter Ackroyd has a genius for digging out the most surprising and entertaining details, and for writing about them in the most magisterial prose; the result is a wonderfully readable and captivating guide to this extraordinary river and the towns and villages which line it. (From the publisher)

Περιεχόμενα

List of illustrations List of maps
I The mirror of history
1 The river as fact
2 The river as metaphor
3 The time of the river
II Father Thames
4 Baptism
5 The river of stone
6 Birth
III Issuing forth
7 The tributes
IV Beginnings
8 In the beginning
9 The sacred lines
10 The battle of the Thames
V The sacred river
11 Holy river
12 Saints of the river
13 Hail holy river, Mother of Grace
14 The ruins
15 Liquid history
VI Elemental and equal
16 The waters of life
17 The leveller
VII The working river
18 River boat
19 The bridges of contentment and the tunnels of darkness
20 River law
21 The criminal element
22 The workers of the river
23 The natives
VIII The river of trade
24 The trade of the world
25 The river of immensity
26 Steam and speed
IX The natural river
27 'Hey ho, the wind and the rain'
28 The ancient trees
29 'And after many a summer dies the swan'
X A stream of pleasure
30 Drink your fill
31 Going up the river
32 Gardens of delight
33 Filthy river
34 'All alive! Alive! Alive, O'
XI The healing spring
35 The healing water
36 The light of the Thames
XII The river of art
37 Thames art
38 The words of the river
39 The song of the river
XIII Shadows and depths
40 River dreams
41 Legends of the river
XIV The river of death
42 The offerings
43 Head of the river
44 The river of death
XV The river's end
45 Downriver
An Alternative Topography, from source to sea
Bibliography
Index
Author's Acknowledgements
Jacket Acknowledgements
Picture Acknowledgements