The Victorian Underworld by Donald Thomas

The Victorian Underworld by Donald Thomas

Here, through the eyes of its inhabitants, Donald Thomas portrays the nineteenth-century underworld - one of 'night houses' and cigar divans, of street people and entertainers. The underworld was sheltered by an underclass, united with it in a hatred of the police. In its rookeries and padding-kens, gin shops and taverns, hard by the fashionable West End, thrived thieves and beggars, cheats, forgers and pickpockets, preying on rich and poor alike. Thackery wrote that the wonders of the Victorian underworld 'have been lying by your door and mine ever since we had a door of our own. We had but to go a hundred yards off and see it for ourselves, but we never did.' Her Donald Thomas pushes open that door to reveal a world at once both strange and strangely familiar.

'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

Donald Thomas is the author of seven biographies, including 'Cardigan of Balaclava' and his best-selling life of 'Cochrane: Britannia's Sea Wolf'. He is also a respected novelist and has won the Gregory Award for his poems 'Points of Contact'. He was born in Somerset, educated at Queen's College, Taunton and Balliol College, Oxford. He holds a personal chair at the University of Wales, Cardiff.

SKU	Nicht verfügbar
ISBN 13	9780719563423
ISBN 10	0719563429
Titel	The Victorian Underworld
Autor	Donald Thomas
Buchzustand	Nicht verfügbar
Bindungsart	Paperback
Verlag	John Murray Press
Erscheinungsjahr	2003-09-04
Seitenanzahl	352
Hinweis auf dem Einband	Die Abbildung des Buches dient nur Illustrationszwecken, die tatsächliche Bindung, das Cover und die Auflage können sich davon unterscheiden.
Hinweis	Nicht verfügbar