This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.

1. 1. Pandemic 1918

   The Story of the Deadliest Influenza in History

   

   This gripping narrative delves into the harrowing events of the 1918 influenza pandemic, exploring its devastating impact on a world already reeling from the ravages of World War I. Through vivid storytelling and meticulous research, the book chronicles the rapid spread of the virus, the overwhelmed medical systems, and the societal upheaval that ensued. It paints a poignant picture of the human stories behind the statistics, highlighting the resilience and courage of individuals and communities in the face of an unprecedented global health crisis. The account serves as a sobering reminder of the fragility of human life and the enduring spirit of survival.

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2. 2. Edward Vii

   

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3. 3. Underworld London

   

   A vivid, narrative history that explores the capital’s hidden and nocturnal spaces—plague pits, graveyards and vaults, sewers and tunnels, back alleys and the haunts of smugglers, thieves and the destitute—tracing how death, vice and secrecy have shaped London’s physical layout and social life; blending archival research, colorful anecdotes and biographies of ordinary and infamous characters, it reveals the underside of the city and argues that the underworld was central to London’s development and identity.

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4. 4. Bedlam

   London and Its Mad

   

   A lively cultural and medical history of London’s famous psychiatric institution and the city’s shifting responses to madness, tracing how definitions, treatments and public attitudes evolved from medieval times through the nineteenth century and beyond. Through patient case histories, institutional records and contemporary commentary, the narrative reveals Bedlam as a place of care, cruelty and spectacle—an institution shaped by politics, religion and class—and shows how changing therapies, reform movements and social anxieties transformed both the hospital and broader understandings of mental illness.

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5. 5. Necropolis

   London and Its Dead

   

   A cultural and social history tracing how London has handled its dead from medieval churchyards and plague pits through the growth of Victorian cemeteries, showing how epidemics, urban crowding, sanitation crises and the demand for corpses by anatomists shaped burial practices, funerary architecture and public attitudes toward death; the book blends vivid stories of grave-robbing, mass burials, and famous necropoleis with analysis of how changing rituals, cemetery design and public health reforms reflected and transformed the city’s relationship to mortality and the urban landscape.

6. 6. The Sexual History Of London

   

   A lively social and cultural survey of how London’s streets, institutions and laws have shaped and been shaped by sexual behaviour and attitudes over the centuries, tracing prostitution, brothels, erotic entertainment, scandal, medical responses to venereal disease, policing and morality campaigns, underground queer life and the rise of pornography. It reads the city’s geography—pleasure districts, theatres, courts and medical wards—as evidence of changing tastes, hypocrisies and power dynamics, and mixes anecdote, case studies and archival material to show how sex has been regulated, commodified and celebrated in London’s public life.

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