Read what reviewers have said about When London Was Capital of America.
NEW YORK TIMES
“Beautifully reimagining a city that was a distant but integral part of American life…essential reading”
Andrea Wulf, New York Times Book Review
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The Observer
“[An] engaging social history, written with a novelist’s eye for character and plot.”
Gaiutra Bahadur, The Observer
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Daily Express
“Julie Flavell has produced not an account of the administration of the American colonies from London but something much more original…She reveals an extraordinary, almost forgotten world, rich with anecdote.”
Duncan Fallowell, Daily Express
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Reviews in History
“This is a good book, that lives up to expectations.”
Leonard Schwarz, Reviews in History
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Publishers Weekly
“Flavell writes in a compelling and succinct style, and history fans will be intrigued by her interpretation of a tumultuous time that shaped the fate of nations.”
Library Journal
“Flavell re-creates with stunning lucidity the bustling world of Georgian London…Absorbing…Remarkable…Through meticulous research and elegant prose, she brings to life a city at the height of its powers.”
Brian Odom, Library Journal
The Literary Review
“A ‘well-researched and enjoyable book’”.
Leslie Mitchell, The Literary Review
Country Life
“This is a fine, original book, and a jolly good read”.
Tim Richardson, Country Life
Choice
“Flavell’s subjects – their lives marked variously by bankruptcy, broken engagements, illegitimacy, and suicide – invite allusions to Fielding and Austen… an engaging group portrait of colonials in the metropolis. Highly recommended.”.
G.F. Steckley, Choice Reviews Online
Journal of American History
“[A] splendid read, a compelling social history that illuminates the houses, streets, and taverns of eighteenth century London.”
James Raven, Journal of American History
Eighteenth Century Studies
“A lively, well-written account”
Philip Gould, Eighteenth Century Studies
American Historical Review
“[A] lively and engaging picture of London in the era of the American Revolution…
Flavell’s work is based on thorough research and has some serious and important messages for historians of the revolutionary period.”
Stephen Conway, American Historical Review
Journal Of British Studies
“Mid-eighteenth-century London comes alive in Julie Flavell’s When London Was Capital of America. … [It] is worth reading both for what it is and for its richly suggestive analysis that opens multiple paths for future research.”
Catherine Molineux, Journal of British Studies
THE GUARDIAN
“Before the revolution, London was the capital of America or, as one colonist described it, the ‘Eden of the world’…Flavell’s study offers wonderfully evocative glimpses into the lives of men such as Benjamin Franklin, who lived in the city for 17 years.”
PD Smith, The Guardian
BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE
“[Flavell’s] fascinating study explores the ‘untold’ story of the capital in the mid-18th century, when America was still part of the British empire.”
Tracy Borman, BBC History Magazine
BRITAIN AND THE WORLD
“When London was Capital of America adds an important component to our knowledge of the eighteenth-century Atlantic world.”
Paul Husbands, Britain and the World
