This was an interesting picture of London and it American expatriate population between about 1755 and 1780. Of particular interest was the story of the blacks who found themselves there. ( )

This book looks primarily at the decade before the American Revolution, when numerous American and West Indian colonists lived and worked in London for extended periods. Flavell focuses on a few representative individuals and families, including the Laurens family who owned a South Carolina plantation and Yankees Benjamin Franklin and his son William. The case study format results in a non-chronological look at the era, and some repetition is inevitable. My favorite chapter describes the American colonial imprint on London's landscape, including trees and plants imported from the colonies that could be seen at places such as Kew Gardens; statues, monuments, and paintings of American colonial heroes; and in the rise of new retail shops tied to imported products like tobacco, sugar, coffee, and cocoa beans. The portraits and street scenes are a good compliment for the text. More legible maps would have been nice. The maps on the end papers and at the beginning of each chapter are more decorative than functional. ( )