The City Of London Volume 3: Illusions of Gold 1914 - 1945

"A fascinating book, deeply researched and admirably written by an author who is a master of his subject and also of the light touch" (Evening Standard)

"A splendidly entertaining history... This book is both immensely readable and an invaluable guide to a set of institutions whose role in British political and economic history is imperfectly understood" (Sunday Telegraph)

"David Kynaston's achievement... is to make the whole thing read like a novel... An altogether exceptional book" (D. J. Taylor Guardian)

"The City has never been good at justifying or explaining itself to the wider world, but in David Kynaston it has found a wonderfully gifted and diligent interpreter" (Daily Telegraph)

"A magnificent book" (Sunday Times)

Illusions of Gold, the third volume of David Kynaston's magnificent quartet, The City of London, sweeps us from 1914 to 1945, through years of fluctuating fortunes that began with the City at an all-time high, and ended with the 'Square Mile' ravaged by bombs, at its lowest ebb ever.

With unerring judgement and story-telling verve, Kynaston takes us through the City's vain attempt to recover the glory days before the First World War, in the return to the Gold Standard. He follows its tussles with government over control of monetary policy, investigates its increasingly important links with British industry and gives a pioneering account of its controversial role in the politics of appeasement.

Kynaston's great strength is his combination of vivid narrative with meticulous scholarship, based on an unparalleled variety of unpublished sources. The City of London is now hailed as one of the most ambitious and rewarding historical projects of recent times.