"The Subterranean Railway" by Chrisitan Wolmar

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

The full title of this book is.....

The Subterranean Railway: How the London Underground Was Built and How It Changed the City Forever.......

and being a social history of the Underground, and a good one at that, it fully lives up to the title.

In essence there are histories of the Underground, and histories of London, but this book actual provides a different approach in that it combines the two - Christian Wolmar places the development of the world's first underground railway firmly in the wider context of London history.

The book itself is fairly hefty at 384 pages (in the paperback version), and provides an
interesting perspective on the Underground, with its focus on the social aspect of the Underground and the benefits it brought London.

It charts the history of the London Underground from the early 1870s until the present day, with the early days of development and innovation given most space.

Chapters 1 to 13 covers the Underground's construction during the 1850's and the subsequent creation of the first underground line in the Metropolitan. The building and politics is all explained well, as is the creation of "Metroland" as a result.

Chapter 14 covers the use of the underground, while the remaining chapters cover the modern era.

The book includes two sections of black and white illustrations and photographs of the Underground both then and now, and a color section that comprises two route maps of the system from the early 20th century that are geographically correct plus the more familiar schematic rendering of the network conceived by Harry Beck in 1931.

I can really recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject - it a is an easy an interesting read, and the politics and the social consequences of the Underground, and the resultant ways in which it moulded London and its society are all very clearly explained.

Published by Atlantic Books, it is available locally at around R 160.00, though your bookshop may have to order from local stock - a couple of days.