My East End: A History Of Cockney London

The East End of London - familiar for its brash and bejewelled cockneys, characterful criminals, flourishing markets with cheeky barrow boys, gutsy pub singalongs, dog-racing, pigeon-fancying, jellied eels, and pie and mash - is a place at once appealing and unruly, comforting and incomprehensible. Gilda O'Neill, herself an East Ender, shows that there is more to this fascinating area than a collection of cliched images. She traces its story from the earliest, misty moments of prehistory to the petty crime and scandal of the Victorian underworld; from the Golden Age of the East End of popular, living memory, with its strong community and sense of place, to the recent encroachment of the sparkling steel-and-glass wonders of trendy Docklands. Using oral history as well as more traditional sources, she builds up a collection of memories and stories about yesterday that lends a pertinent commentary on today - bringing to us, with wit and honesty, the real story of London's East End.