London voices, London lives: Tales from a working capitalThis book is a unique collection: ordinary Londoners, in their own voices, tell about ordinary London lives. Interviews with over a hundred people in eight localities, from inner-city Battersea, to suburban Heston, to Greenhithe on the London fringe, have been edited with a linking commentary by Professor Sir Peter Hall. The first half, London Voices, introduces the characters - their hopes and aspirations, their frustrations and struggles, their determination and optimism. The second, London Lives, introduces the themes that dominate their everyday lives: the struggle to keep their heads above water, the search for a place to live, the hassle of the journey to work, their friends and neighbours, their concerns about crime, and the quality of their everyday lives. This is not only an extraordinary social record but also a compelling read for anyone and everyone interested in today's London, or in any other great global city. It will provide a mine of information for future historians on one of the world's greatest cities and will be of special academic or professional interest to sociologists, anthropologists, geographers, planners and social policymakers. |
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actually African Afro-Caribbean Asian basically Battersea Bermondsey Bill Knight block borough British-born Afro-Caribbean cent centre coming council estates council tenant crime Dartford divorced mother door Earley East East Ham Eltham ethnic everything father feel felt fifties flat forties friends Gants Hill gentrifiers Greenhithe happened Heston homeowner Hounslow housing association tenant income Indian interviews Jamaica Road Joan Jubilee Line kids kind live London look male cohabitee married mother mean neighbourhood neighbours never Newham Newtown nice owner-occupied part-time employed Peckham police private tenant probably problem racist residents road round seems self-employed sense shops Sikh single mother sixties social somewhere sort Southwark stay Stephen Lawrence Stratford street stuff talk things thirties traffic twenties unemployed Upton Park walk white Jewish woman yeah