The Thames: A Biography

The Thames, England’s greatest river—for centuries an aid to trade, a stalwart of national defense, a stage for some of England’s greatest historical events, an inspiration to some of England’s best poets and artists, a challenge to engineers. Yet while there is a constancy in the history of the river, there is also change. The Thames charts the diverse meanings of the river over the course of millennia, from prehistoric to modern times.
From the elephants on the bank of the prehistoric river to Caesar’s expeditionary force; from King Alfred’s battleships to the signing of Magna Carta; from the river’s role in both the coronation and execution of Anne Boleyn to seventeenth-century frost fairs and the first performance of Handel’s 'Water Music’; from Turner’s view of the river as arcadia through its bombardment during the Blitz, The Thames provides an intimate portrait of the waterway at the heart of English history.
Blending elegant prose with historical detail, this exceptional book superbly brings to life the river Winston Churchill once vividly described as "a golden thread in the national tapestry.”

England's great river through the ages.

Library Journal

The author of the acclaimed London 1900 as well as earlier works on significant figures in British labor history, Schneer has written a compelling history of the river Thames, which meanders through southern Britain. The river has had huge impact on the lives of royalty and lesser folk living on its banks. To the east, the ebb tides determined the fates of many famous Britons (among them Sir Walter Raleigh and Annabella Stuart), while "The other river, the sweet Thames, running softly to the west" has tugged on the imagination of numerous literary figures, including William Morris. The famed Henley Regattas were played out on the river, and dock workers thrived on its banks in the 19th century. Yet as Schneer reminds us, numerous members of the middle class died in ferry sinkings, partly because of the pestilence of the river itself (it was cleaned up in the 20th century). During World War II, the Germans relied on the river to identify and bomb London, but it also bore the flotilla that carried Churchill to his rest-an event that ends this entertaining book. Readers should be stirred by these last chapters. Recommended for all libraries.-Gail Benjafield, St, Catharines P.L., Ont. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Jonathan Schneer was born in New York City. He has taught at Yale University and is currently professor of modern British history at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He has written three books about British labor and more recently a cultural history of London at the turn of the twentieth century titled London 1900: The Imperial Metropolis, published by Yale University Press.