David Kynaston was born in Aldershot in 1951. After graduating from New College Oxford, he studied at the London School of Economics. A professional historian, in addition to the four-volume The City of London, his works include King Labour: A History of the British Working Class, 1850-1914, histories of the Financial Times and the stockbrokers Cazenove & co., and the first two volumes in a planned history of Britain between 1945 and 1979, Austerity Britain, 1945-51 and Family Britain, 1951-57.

"[An] enthralling history...He illustrates it with rich anecdotes, an extraordinary range of sources, and lively writing. It is a wonderful piece of work" Financial Times "Overflows with lines that leap off any front page today...Great history" New Statesman & Society "His City towers over the Thames basin, an ant hill of energy, speculation and greed. The story is never dry, for Kynaston tells it as human drama...This is economic history as its most glittering" The Times