Sin City — London in pursuit of pleasure
- Author: Giles Emerson
- Publisher: Granada
- Classification: European History
- Reviewed by: Shep
Sin City takes us on a humorous journey through time, spanning the period between the Roman occupation and the end of the Victorian era, covering a number of themes, namely sex, theatre, sport, drugs, and food. The book at times causes some surprise, such as Church organised prostitution, the man who walked 1000 miles in 1000 hours for a bet, and where the stories of witches flying on broomsticks came from (you’ll have to read it to find out).
Emerson has a very tongue-in-cheek style of writing, a style that suits the subject matter very well. In the forward, Bettany Hughs starts a sentence with the phrase ‘Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner….’ setting the tone for the rest of the book. Perhaps it’s this writing style that keeps the book from ever becoming shocking, leaving one more with the feeling that nothing ever really changes much.
Sin City was written to accompany a TV series, and so Emerson admits that it was a rushed project (12 weeks from start to finish). Which brings us to the only criticism of the book. The author quotes extensively from a few sources, which tends to grate after a while. Worth a read though.
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