Oxford (Cities of the Imagination)

Celebrated by Matthew Arnold as the "city of the dreaming spires", Oxford has a long and illustrious history as one of Europe's oldest university towns. Its colleges, libraries and museums, ranging from the medieval to the modern, testify to the city's academic traditions and the dominant influence of "gown" over "town". But there is another Oxford, the city of car factories and housing estates, high-tech research and alternative culture. The University City: the seat of learning, inside the colleges, river and gardens, dons and students, "town and gown" conflict, the other university The Writer's City: Oxford loved and hated by Dr Johnson, Oscar Wilde and CS Lewis; Alice in Wonderland, Zuleika Dobson, and Inspector Morse. The Other Oxford: cars and marmalade; saints and sinners, museums and mausoleums, tramps and tourists.