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The Blackest Streets: The Life and Death of a Victorian Slum
 
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The Blackest Streets: The Life and Death of a Victorian Slum (Paperback)

by Sarah Wise (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
RRP: £9.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage (4 Jun 2009)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1844133311
  • ISBN-13: 978-1844133314
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 5,130 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #1 in  Books > History > Britain & Ireland > Queen Anne, Georgian, Victorian 1701-1901
    #9 in  Books > History > Cultural History > London
    #72 in  Books > History > Europe

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Product Description

Review

'Wise is too clever and considered a historian simply to give us a lurid, one-dimensional Victorian melodrama. Through painstaking archival work and readable empathetic prose, she has instead sought to evoke the texture of life here.' --Sinclair Mackay, Daily Telegraph, 28 June 2008

"Sarah Wise animates the horrors in fascinating detail" --Saturday Telegraph Review


Review

'A brilliant social history... a reminder that our enlightened society was built on an inhumanity only just beyond living memory.'
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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars A black day for story-telling, 6 April 2009
By possiblejersey (Wales) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)      
This review is from: The Blackest Streets: The Life and Death of a Victorian Slum (Hardcover)
I really wanted to like this book. I really did. This sort of social history is just my cup of tea, but I found myself praying for this book to end before I'd reached half way. I was initially excited at the beginning of each chapter and what it promised: the roles of the local authorities, philanthropists, charities, the police, religion, etc. on slum life, only to be buried under a landslide of petty bureaucracy and unenlightening trivia a dozen paragraphs in. The cumulative effect of all these facts and statistics is energy-sapping and distracting. Where is the REAL story? Where are the anecdotes? When will we see what it was like to live in the Nichol in the late 1880s? I finished this book and I still don't know.

I was initially made aware of this book from an article in BBC History magazine, which cherry-picked the one interesting chapter -- "Phantoms in the Fog", concerning the police and judicial system -- and made an interesting article about it. Now I know why they picked that chapter. It would be difficult to select any other chapter to make an interesting article. But perhaps I shouldn't be too uncomplimentary. I DID learn something from this book and I WAS disabused of some common misconceptions about Victorian squalor that I might have seen sensationalised in some costume dramas on the television.

However, this is a much too sober and over-analytical study of a subject that is probably better suited to a more casual and popular approach. Having said that, Wise does treat the subject matter very humanely and sympathetically when she occasionally moves away from facts and statistics. I really wanted more anecdotes, more story-telling. The black-and-white photographs were well chosen and nicely reproduced in the body of the text rather than as plates on glossy paper. I think that was a good decision. I would recommend that this book is taken out of the library rather than bought, as I did, because it isn't exactly as described in the blurb, so the interested reader might be disappointed with his purchase.
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33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars What a Book! Social history at its very best, 27 Aug 2008
By D. Cameron (England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Blackest Streets: The Life and Death of a Victorian Slum (Hardcover)
I have seldom read such an affecting book. It is a model of accessible, informative and gripping social history. Through meticulous research, it tells the lives of those people who lived in the area known as "The Nicol" in East London in the late 19th c. there are countless individual stories of heartbreaking poverty, set against the bigger picture of social, political and religious reforms and the history of urban victorian slums. Contemporary photographs and etchings are really illustrative and help bring the area to life. I have ancestors who lived in the area and it provided a fascinating and humbling glimpse of their lives but this book is so well written and informative, in a very accessible style that anyone interested in history will enjoy it. It is a real page turner - I was completely caught up in the day to day lives of the people of the Nicol. Utterly compelling and highly recommended. My book of the year so far.
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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars The Blackest Streets, 15 Sep 2008
By S. HICKS - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Blackest Streets: The Life and Death of a Victorian Slum (Hardcover)
I am enjoying this book because it has shed new light on my own family's story as they lived in Bethnal Green at the end of the 19th century. The use of personal stories especially those of Arthur Harding is very effective and one of the best things about the book. I have struggled with its over-wordiness in places and the insertion of several numerical facts one after the other but on the whole it's very readable and an important historical record of a largely ignored problem.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars THE BLACKEST STREETS
DEAR TEAM,
THIS BOOK ILLUSTRATES HOW FAR WE HAVE COME IN THE WAY OF IMPROVEMENT OF OUR LIVING CONDITIONS IN THE PAST 120 YEARS. Read more
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2.0 out of 5 stars The Blackest Streets
I love Victorian London books but this one left me bored and is not a good read unless you want factual historical notes lacking in atmosphere. Read more
Published 8 days ago by A. Arnold

5.0 out of 5 stars enthralling
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5.0 out of 5 stars The relevance of history
A very readable account of life in a 'slum' in London in the late 19th century and of the failure of 'redevelopment' to improve conditions for most of its population. Read more
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4.0 out of 5 stars sandra graham
I bought this book for my mum who was born in this area of London, I before giving it to her had a little look and couldn't put it down, it was amazing to find out how people... Read more
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Thank you Sarah for setting out in great detail what many refuse to accept - poor social planning has its consequences. Read more
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