- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: John Murray Publishers Ltd; New edition edition (4 Nov 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0719557291
- ISBN-13: 978-0719557293
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15.6 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 293,407 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Review
'The author has a practised eye for the best anecdotes and presents amazing characters, some of whom come equipped with names that sound positively Dickensian ... a wonderful profile of Victorian London' -- The Spectator 'A fluent account of a subject which still has the power to elicit shivers of delighted disgust' -- Daily Telegraph 'Thomas writes with a historian's ironically neutral eye about brothels, pornography, forgery and serial killers, and includes a gripping account of the London-to-Paris mail train robbery, in which a gang got away with a quarter of a ton of gold bullion' -- The Guardian 'A wonderful profile of Victorian London' -- The Spectator
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
The Spectator
'A wonderful profile of Victorian London'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Much of what we are often told about the victorians makes them out to be hyper-virtuous, thoroughly industrious, and particularly progressive. This book shows the other side of the coin, exposing the rampant hypocrisy of the middle classes, and delighting in the details of life on the seedy side of the street.
We are treated to descriptions of many of the various con tricks and sharp practices that criminals developed to fleece the wealthy or just plain gullible that crossed their path. The extent of prostitution that is revealed almost boggles the mind, and the same people that were most often to be found proclaiming their own virtue and that of their peers were far too often found in the arms of one prostitute or another. Although what truly shocks is the prevalence of child prostitution and the great effort that was required to secure the principle of the age of consent in law, and even then at a frighteningly low age.
After reading this informative and often entertaining book you will be able to raise a wry smile the next time you hear politicians extolling the virtues of the victorians and crying out for a return to 'victorian values'. It makes you wonder just which values they mean.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book was a fascinating insight into a vanished world, complete with not only the safecrackers and prostitutes (the staples of criminal Victoriana) but also featuring a thousand and one trades of ill-repute, all with exotic sounding names, that simply do not exist anymore - running patterers, costers, etc. The section on the Great Train Robbery is absolutely riveting, and more appealing, in many ways, than the bowdlerised film version starring Sean Connery.
The sweeping variety of scams and con tricks featured generally in the book is also breathtaking, and the history of the debate on obscene publications in an eye-opening insight into this same debate today. Anyone interested in the period, particularly any novelists who need research, would do well to consult this. Very attractive cover too. I enjoyed this immensely.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a thin volume and there are bigger volumes available and probably more detailed studies. Thomas has written his book very well, with great skill and he is able to make the book accessible to all readers, without slipping into slang, jargon or complicated terms that put a lot of readers off. The book is riveting and I found it immensely enlightening
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Thoroughly entertaining and worth a read
This is a thoroughly absorbing look at the criminal underbelly of Victorian England and is too entertaining to be dismissed as an academic work of social history. Read more
Published on 6 Jun 2007 by quippe
Survival of the Fittest
What a relief to sit comfortably ensconsed in a different century! The author points out the cruelty of everyday life under the reign of Queen Victoria and the futility of the... Read more
Published on 22 Feb 1999
IT ELOQUENTLY PORTAYS ATMOSPHERE AND INTENCE EMMOTION.
AS AN AVID VICTORIAN FAN I FOUND MYSELF HYPNOTIZED BY THE SWIRL OF HISTORICAL DRAMA.
Published on 2 Oct 1998
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