The book is largely concerned with the history of Western culture of speed that forms the framework within which the phenomenon of slow living is placed. A comprehensive analysis of practices and representations of deceleration in everyday life – slow travel, slow London and slow lit – suggests the rise of a stage in the history of speed.

The objective of the "Literary and Cultural Theory" series is to publish works, collections of articles, and conference proceedings in the field of Humanities and Literature. The series aims at transgressing boundaries of single disciplines and at creating common space within which themes and methodologies of those single disciplines merge and contribute to the production of a novel approach to culture, literature, and philosophy.