Rebel footprints

A guide to uncovering London’s radical history

David Rosenberg, Pluto Press, 320 pages, £16.99

In the 1980s, David Rosenberg was the van driver for a left wing publisher, delivering books to radical bookshops across London.

Most of those shops have now closed down (with the exception of Bookmarks and a handful of others), but Rosenberg developed a fascination with London’s radical history and a desire to find out more about the hidden history of the capital.

In recent years, he has been running walking tours of the city and now his knowledge is being shared with a wider audience.

Rebel footprints is a radical response to conservative heritage tours and banal day-tripper guides and brings to life the history of social movements in the capital.

It transports readers from well-known landmarks to history-making hidden corners, telling the story of protest and struggle in London from the early 19th to the mid-20th century.

From the suffragettes to the socialists, from the Chartists to the trade unionists, the book invites us to step into the footprints of a diverse cast of fighters for social justice.

Rosenberg sets London’s radical campaigners against the backdrop of the city’s development.

Self-directed walks pair with narratives that blend history, politics and geography. And specially-commissioned maps and illustrations immerse the reader in the story of the city.

Reviews contributed by the Bookmarks socialist bookshop. Order online at www.bookmarksbookshop.co.uk