Underworld London: Crime and Punishment in the Capital City - Couverture souple

Arnold, Catharine

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1849832927 ISBN 13 : 9781849832922

Editeur : Simon & Schuster, 2013

Synopsis

Underworld London A fascinating portrait of the capital's dark and criminal underbelly throughout history Full description

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur :

Beginning with an atmospheric account of Tyburn, we are set up for a grisly excursion through London as a city of ne'er do wells, taking in beheadings and brutality at the Tower, Elizabethan street crime, cutpurses and con-men, through to the Gordon Riots and Highway robbery of the 18th century and the rise of prisons, the police and the Victorian era of incarceration. As well as the crimes, Arnold also looks at the grotesque punishments meted out to those who transgressed the law throughout London's history - from the hangings, drawings and quarterings at Tyburn over 500 years to being boiled in oil at Smithfield. This popular historian also investigates the influence of London's criminal classes on the literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, and ends up with our old favourites, the Krays and Soho gangs of the 50s and 60s.
London's crimes have changed over the centuries, both in method and execution. Underworld London traces these developments, from the highway robberies of the eighteenth century, made possible by the constant traffic of wealthy merchants in and out of the city, to the beatings, slashings and poisonings of the Victorian era.

Quatrième de couverture :

Beginning with an atmospheric account of a public execution at Tyburn, Catharine Arnold takes readers on a grisly excursion through London as a city of ne'er do wells. Along the way, we take in beheadings and brutality at the Tower, Elizabethan street crime and the golden age of the highwaymen, before moving on to the era of incarceration. This colourful, gruesome history investigates the cruel and unusual punishments visited upon miscreants through the ages and provides a sobering reminder of the fate awaiting those who foul of the law before modern times.

Arnold also looks at the influence of London's criminal classes on literature, as well as charting the rise of East End mobsters the Krays and the Soho gangs of the 1950s and '60s. An overview of the sensational trials and miscarriages of justice that led to the abolition of the death penalty and a look at criminal behaviour in the present era rounds up this fascinating portrait of London's underbelly.

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Simon & Schuster
• Date d'édition: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1849832927
• ISBN 13: 9781849832922
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 352