Nights in the Big City ─ Paris, Berlin, London 1840-1930

This elegantly written book describes the evolving perception and experience of the night in three great European cities: Paris, Berlin, and London. As Joachim Schlor shows, the lighting up of the European city by gas and electricity in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries brought about a new relationship with the night for both those who toiled at work and those who caroused in restaurants, pubs, and cafes. Nights in the Big City explores this change and offers a stirring portrait of the secrets and mysteries a city can hold when the sun goes down.

Sifting through countless police and church archives alongside first-hand accounts, Schlor sets out on his own explorations with a head full of histories, exploring the boulevards and side-streets of these three great capitals. Illustrated with haunting and evocative photographs by, among others, Bill Brandt and Andre Kertesz, and filled with contemporary literary references, Nights in the Big City is a milestone in the cultural history of the city. 

Joachim Schlor is a cultural historian at the University of Southampton. He is the author ofTel Aviv, also published by Reaktion Books.