Full name: Thames: Sacred River

Author: Peter Ackroyd Year: 2007 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: History, Non Fiction, Biographies, Travel Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Goodreads Amazon ISBNs: 9780701172848 0701172843

'Thames: Sacred River', by the bestselling author of 'London: The Biography', is about the river from source to sea. It covers history from prehistoric times to the present; the flora of the river; paintings and photographs inspired by the Thames; its geology, smells and colour; its literature, laws and landscapes; its magic and myths; its architecture, trade and weather. This book meanders gloriously, rather as the river does itself: here are Toad of Toad Hall and Julius Caesar, Henry VIII and Shelley, Turner and Three Men in a Boat. The reader learns about the fishes that swam in the river and the boats that plied on its surface; about floods and tides; hauntings and suicides; sewers, miasmas and malaria; locks, weirs and embankments; bridges, docks and palaces. All the towns and villages along the river's 215-mile length are described. Peter Ackroyd has a genius for digging out the most surprising and entertaining details, and for writing about them in the most magisterial prose. Similar books: Old London Bridge by Patricia Pierce London by Peter Ackroyd The Kings and Queens of England by Nicholas Best 1700 by Maureen Waller The Blackest Streets by Sarah Wise The Victorian City by Judith Flanders The Domesday Book by Thomas Hinde The Great Stink of London by Stephen Halliday London Under by Peter Ackroyd London by Roy Porter In Search of England by Michael Wood The London Monster by Jan Bondeson Restoration London by Liza Picard Elizabeth's London by Liza Picard Necropolis by Catharine Arnold Last Train to Paradise by Les Standiford Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure by Matthew Algeo Captain James Cook by Richard Hough Albion by Peter Ackroyd The Adventures of Ibn Battuta by Ross E. Dunn