London’s criminal underworlds, c. 1720–c. 1930: A social and cultural history

Abstract

This book offers an original and exciting analysis of the concept of the criminal underworld, breaking new ground by offering a sustained exploration of the idea of the underworld from the early eighteenth century. Print culture, policing and law enforcement, criminal networks, space and territory are explored through a series of case studies taken from the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Detailed and rigorous research informs chapters that focus on broad themes like robbery, pick-pocketing, swindling, street crime, youth gangs and gangsters; but also on the detailed reconstruction of criminal lives. This book explores the 'criminal underworld' as both a social and cultural concept, and considers the evolving narrative of the underworld alongside the lives of plebeian and working-class Londoners who encountered the criminal justice system as offenders, victims and witnesses.