Thames: The Biography

In this perfect companion to London: The Biography, Peter Ackroyd once again delves into the hidden byways of history, describing the river’s endless allure in a journey overflowing with characters, incidents, and wry observations.

Thames: The Biography meanders gloriously, rather like the river itself. In short, lively chapters Ackroyd writes about connections between the Thames and such historical figures as Julius Caesar and Henry the VIII, and offers memorable portraits of the ordinary men and women who depend upon the river for their livelihoods. He visits all the towns and villages along the river from Oxfordshire to London and describes the magnificent royal residences, as well as the bridges and docks, locks and weirs, found along its 215-mile run. The Thames as a source of artistic inspiration comes brilliantly to life as Ackroyd invokes Chaucer, Shakespeare, Turner, Shelley, and other writers, poets, and painters who have been enchanted by its many moods and colors.

In his signature entertaining and informative manner, Ackroyd allows the reader to dip into chapters in his own spirit, or to follow the Thames from source to sea.

Illustrated with maps and photographs, THAMES is a vivid, highly original mosaic of life by and on the water.

A companion volume to London: The Biography looks at the history of the Thames River, from prehistoric times to the present day, the towns and villages that line its banks, the men and women who have depended on it for their livelihood, and its role as a source of artistic inspiration for writers, poets, and painters. 40,000 first printing.

In this perfect companion to London: The Biography, Peter Ackroyd once again delves into the hidden byways of history, describing the river's endless allure in a journey overflowing withcharacters, incidents, and wry observations. Thames: The Biography meanders gloriously, rather like the river itself. In short, lively chapters Ackroyd writes about connections between the Thames andsuch historical figures as Julius Caesar and Henry VIII, and offers memorable portraits of the ordinary men and women who depend upon the river for their livelihoods. The Thames as a source of artistic inspiration comesbrilliantly to life as Ackroyd invokes Chaucer, Shakespeare, Turner, Shelley, and other writers, poets, and painters who have been enchanted by its many moods and colors.

From theTrade Paperback edition.

PETER ACKROYD is the author of London: The Biography, Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination, and Shakespeare: The Biography; acclaimed biographies of T.S. Eliot, Dickens, Blake, and Sir Thomas More; thirteen novels; and the series Ackroyd’s Brief Lives. He has won the Whitbread Book Award for Biography, the Royal Society of Literature’s William Heinemann Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Guardian Fiction Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award, and the South Bank Award for Literature. He lives in London.

The mirror of history — The river as fact — The river as metaphor — The time of the river — Father Thames — Baptism — The river of stone — Birth — Issuing forth — The tributes — Beginnings — In the beginning — The sacred lines — The Battle of the Thames — The sacred river — Holy River — Saints of the River — Hail Holy River, Mother of Grace — The ruins — Liquid history — Elemental and equal — The waters of life — The leveller — The working river — River boat — The bridges of contentment and the tunnels of darkness — River law — The criminal element — The workers of the river — The natives — The river of trade — The trade of the world — The river of immensity — Steam and speed — The natural river — "Hey ho, the wind and the rain" — The ancient trees — "And after many a summer dies the swan" — A stream of pleasure — Drink your fill — Going up the river — Gardens of delight — Filthy river — "All alive! Alive! Alive, O!" — The healing spring — The healing water — The light of the Thames — The river of art — Thames art — The words of the river — The song of the river — Shadows and depths — River dreams — Legends of the river — The river of death — The offerings — Head of the river — The river of death — The river's end — Downriver.