This new book is the first single-volume overview of the town’s development through the ages, starting from the earliest prehistoric inhabitants to its origins as a Saxon village, its growth as an industrial town, and finally as a newly created London Borough of Ealing back in 1965. Acton’s location, only five miles west of central London, was to have no small influence on her growth in the later 19th and 20th centuries, making it the busy and thriving place that it is today. Jonathan Oates’ book is a welcome addition to the published literature on Acton’s history, bring the story right up to date in a lively and well-researched narrative.