Review by Choice Review
Any biography of the fogs of London is not solely a matter of the Industrial Revolution and Dickensian England but must stretch back to the days of Shakespeare. Corton (Wolfson College Cambridge, UK) looks at the subject from every perspective imaginable. Writers such as Dickens deplored the fog; those who terrorized the streets, such as Jack the Ripper, demonized it; artists such as Turner, Whistler, and Monet romanticized it. Photographers and film directors, especially Alfred Hitchcock, used fog to create eerie effects. But as late as 1962, hundreds died of respiratory failure due to the high smoke and sulfur pollution of the air. Legislation such as the Clean Air Act was concerned only with removing smoke, grit, and dust from the air, not sulfur dioxide. Once this final component was attacked in the 1960s, pea-soupers were eliminated. Readers interested in the larger cultural context and the science and politics that affected the portrayal of London fogs in the arts, media, and public imagination will find the book lively, informative, and entertaining. It is lavishly illustrated, sometimes in color, despite the generally black-and-gray appearance of the fogs that are the subject of this historically compelling biography. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All library collections. --Joseph W. Dauben, CUNY Herbert H. Lehman College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by New York Times Review
HOW TO SEE: Looking, Talking, and Thinking About Art, by David Salle. (Norton, $16.95.) The painter, who was catapulted to fame in the 1980s, offers up a guide to appreciating contemporary art. In an engaging series of essays, he profiles artists including Jeff Koons and Alex Katz, and his mentor John Baldessari. Along the way, Salle sprinkles thoughts about art school, criticism and history. SWIMMING LESSONS, by Claire Fuller. (Tin House, $15.95.) Ingrid begins writing letters to her husband about their marriage, hiding them in the thousands of books he has collected. Then, she flees - leaving him along with their two children and a seaside home in Dorset. Years later, Ingrid's daughter discovers the letters while caring for her aging father, prompting her to examine the circumstances of her mother's disappearance anew. WONDERLAND: How Play Made the Modern World, by Steven Johnson. (Riverhead, $20.) In this rollicking study, Johnson - using an elastic definition of "play," which includes beauty, spectacles and mere novelty - makes a case for entertainment's role in history. As he suggests, if you're curious about where the future is headed, just look to where people are having the most fun. THE SCHOOLDAYS OF JESUS, by J. M. Coetzee. (Penguin, $16.) In the second volume of Coetzee's allegorical fable, which began with his 2013 novel "The Childhood of Jesus," David and Simón forge new lives in a country where immigrants' memories have been washed away. David, a gifted but difficult child, doubts his new circumstances; his persistent questioning of Simón forms the grist of a philosophical dialogue tinged with intimacy. "The result is rich, dense, often amusing and, above all, full of inner tension and suspense," Jack Miles said here. LONDON FOG: The Biography, by Christine L. Corton. (Harvard, $18.95.) Asocial history of the city's storied pollution uncovers how business interests often won out over health concerns. While the fog was killing Londoners, it also inspired, and rankled, artists and writers, becoming a romanticized feature of the city. Corton's account investigates its lasting cultural impact. LOLA, by Melissa Scrivner Love. (Broadway, $16.) In South Central Los Angeles, the Crenshaw Six have joined the city's drug wars, with one of its members' girlfriends running the operation. Lola, tough and resilient, watches violence play out on the streets of her childhood as she navigates ever-higher stakes. Our reviewer, Charles Finch, praised this debut thriller, calling it "as fast, flexible and poised as a chef's knife."
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [January 21, 2018]
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Corton, a senior member of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, undertakes a definitive study of London's "pea-souper" fogs, deftly tracing the history of a weather condition that became a defining feature of the city in the world's imagination. As Corton shows, the fog, which first appeared early in the 19th century, proved a ready metaphor for an array of Victorian anxieties, from Jack the Ripper's reign of terror to a perceived decline in public morals. She perceptively examines the literary manifestations of these fears in chapters covering a number of famous authors, including Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson, and T.S. Eliot. Readers may be surprised that the history of London fog requires a detour through the politics of the day as much as through literature; however, Corton proves a sensible guide through the labyrinthine parliamentary measures arising from public outrage over the "great killer fog" and bureaucratic inaction in service of the manufacturers that were largely responsible for the pollution. Though the "London particular" was finally legislated out of existence in the 1960s, Corton asserts convincingly that the fog will remain enshrined in cultural memory, a romantic if no longer accurate symbol of a great city. 28 color illus., 63 halftones. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Most readers would doubt that an entire book about fog could be interesting, but Corton, in her first publication, presents an intriguing biography of the weather effect that defined a national character. We tend to think of life in a pea-souper, or "London particular," as filled with romantic trysts or dastardly attacks la Jack the Ripper. What the author really drives home is the deadliness of the winter fogs, during which, over the course of London's history, countless coal fires burned in the city's hearths. Homes as well as industries burned soft bituminous coal from Newcastle, one of the dirtiest fuels. The thickness of the fog even led to hundreds of choking deaths. One couldn't see to walk, horses couldn't see to carry passengers, and theaters closed because the audiences couldn't see the performances. One didn't open a window for ventilation because it would allow the soot into the house. Corton explains the windless London Basin, which has always gathered moisture, the temperature inversions that trapped it, and the makeup of the yellow, sulfurous killer. The author discusses whether it's smoke or fog, a problem solved by the introduction of the term "smog," and painters, writers, and other artists become a large part of the narrative. Dickens used fog as a metaphor for London, while Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde used the fog as a cloak for moral degeneracy. Painters found that fog distorted form and perspective, but the impressionists relished it. Monet loved the fog, and Whistler made it his specialty. Oscar Wilde's quip shows the general attitude to fog: "where the cultured catch an effect, the uncultured catch cold." The author also chronicles unsuccessful attempts to clear the air, with industry fighting it and Londoners fearing the loss of their home fires. An eye-opening and highly readable picture of London's reactions to the killer fog that has characterized it for centuries. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
