John Davis is emeritus fellow in modern history and politics at The Queen's College, University of Oxford, and the author of Reforming London: The London Government Problem, 18551900 and A History of Britain, 18851939.
""A Daily Telegraph Best History Book of the Year"" ""It is one of the pleasures of Waterloo Sunrise that it leaps from race and urban reorganization to fashion and fun. Mr. Davis is a wizard of the archives. The general reader will delight in his excavation of local newspapers in pursuit of treasures that illuminate whatever topic is under discussion.""---James Campbell, Wall Street Journal ""John Davis charts the complexities of these important decades in London’s recent history with great brilliance. . . . A sure-footed and unrivalled guide.""---Jerry White, Times Literary Supplement ""Davis is a magnificent tour guide for the world he has reconstructed. . . . He shows us how London stopped being so boring, what we gained and what we lost.""---Florence Sutcliffe-Braithwaite, London Review of Books ""Entertaining and affecting.""---John Gapper, Financial Times ""This is an engrossing, scholarly account of a time when London was in transformation . . . and one that will interest Londoners and non-Londoners alike.""---Martin Chilton, The Independent ""A beautifully written account of the arrival of trattorias, Carnaby Street, tower blocks and gentrification, as the capital was developed after the destruction of the war.""---Simon Heffer, Daily Telegraph ""Like the Kinks classic to which the title playfully alludes, Waterloo Sunrise is infectious, full of human detail, and generous in its narrative sweep.""---Matthew d’Ancona, Tortoise Media ""Davis weaves two decades of social, physical, economic, cultural, and political change into a coherent tapestry. . . . A welcome, well-written resource."" * Choice Reviews * ""There is a wealth of information and cogent analysis in this book. It is well-researched with a very full scholarly apparatus. . . . [A] highly entertaining work.""---Alan Clarke, Open History Journal ""Within its 434 pages some alchemy turns the drab 1970’s into London’s apotheosis. . . . I love the book—it’s a 400-page plus page turner. ""---Barry Coidan, The London Society ""This is a book I will be using as a research source for many years to come.""---Geoff Nicholson, Los Angeles Review of Books ""Waterloo Sunrise, an original, superbly written, and immaculately researched book by John Davis, has the merit not only of being a serious work of social history but also of being one that lifts up the stone to reveal aspects of London life between the early 1960s and the advent of Mrs. Thatcher. . . . Davis is as perceptive in describing the decline of the 1970s as he is in detailing the excitement of London in the 1960s.""---Simon Heffer, New Criterion ""Waterloo Sunrise invites us to think in broader, less teleological ways about the terrain of modern Britain. . . . This readable history wears its historiography lightly but is notable for its extraordinarily wide-ranging use of primary sources, and thus its powerful sense of immersive placemaking.""---Lucy Delap, American Historical Review ""[A] landmark volume that will shape the way we interpret postwar metropolitan culture.""---Rohan McWilliam, The London Journal