Perhaps suitable for good A Level students, but mostly I think a teachers update book. This is a detailed exploration of the growth of the Victorian City, seen through the eyes of contemporaries, and the debates about town growth and life. It is easy to see the Victorian City as a problem - indeed it was. It created all kinds of social problems, including a shorter life expectancy for some than 250 years earlier. As well as all the familiar arguments there is a wealth of detail and debate in this book - over Councils and their refusal to take responsibility for improvements, for example, but also over the academic debates that raged over the C19th about Government action or inaction. Literature and architecture are explored in a really thought-provoking text, as wel las the growing emphasis on culture and religion as a way to rescue the inhabitants of cities from their plight. This book will make you re-examine some of your strongly-held views. Worth a read!