London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets. Peter Ackroyd. Doubleday, 2012.

Anyone who has visited London has, at one time or another, ridden on the Underground. With its iconic map and stations, it is just an integral part of London as is Big Ben and the Tower Bridge.  But there is more beneath the streets of London than just the Underground.  Peter Ackroyd, author of London: The Biography and Thames: The Biography, has now gone below ground to discover the many wonders found there.

As London grew along the clay and gravel that comprised the banks of the Thames, the other smaller rivers, i.e. e. the Fleet, flowing to it carried all the filth and detritus from its inhabitants. London stank until city engineer, Joseph Bazalgette, designed and built in 1858 the first real sewers, some of which are still in use.  Later Charles Pearson developed the plan for the underground system that is it at the heart of the story.

Of particular interest was the use of the Underground as air-raid shelters during World War II.  Initially discouraged by the government, the citizens of London took over the Underground stations, developing a complex city with its own newspaper.

London Under is a wonderful tour of the city below with its tubes, rivers, sewers, and human remains.  The next time I ride on the Tube, it will be with a new attitude and respect for the ground under and above us.

Reviewer:  Dorothy Pittman