" ... Whether describing his difficult childhood in working-class South LKondon, his love of nature or his battles with Margaret Thatcher and Gordon Brown, Ken Livingstone is never less than fascinating. His stories of deals and intrigues in committee rooms and council chambers are eye-opening and he is frank about his relationships with party bosses whose instinct was often to run a mile from him. [This book] is also revelatory about how things get done in big cities: Livingstone has been a great reforming city [of London] leader, whose achievements range from the introduction of the congestion charge and related environmental policies to major changes in the integration of London's transport networks. His campaigns against racism and homophobia and for women's rights made him a hate figure in the 1980s, but much of what he was arguing then is now the common sense of all decent politicians. And he played a central role in bringing the [2012] Olympics to London. ..."--Jacket.