One of the most impressive aspects of the collection is the clarity with which each author explains their own approach to microhistory and its value and contribution to broader historical debates. The methodological explanations and cohesive approach offered throughout is especially valuable, as the reader understands why this approach matters and what it adds to the topic analysed and to ... Read morewider issues relating to the history of crime.
History Today
The book ... underlines the importance of the micro-historical approach to the history of crime and justice ... One appreciates ... reading this collective work of interesting contributions.
Lectures (Bloomsbury Translation)
This is a broad, colorful collection of 13 narratives of crime and criminals and how their microhistories (case studies) illuminated the larger issues in criminal justice systems in Britain (mostly), the US, and Europe. This is history from below, but it is not statistical and is mercifully free of postmodern obscurities. Each case is fascinating. The various contributors cover such subjects as an acid attack by a jilted woman in the 1870s and her acquittal, thus illuminating gender considerations; the confinement of a supposed prostitute in a Victorian lock hospital; the disputed use in London in the 1840s of plainclothes policemen in pubs to nab Sunday drinkers; a murderous crime spree by an American deserter and his English girlfriend in wartime Britain; and Victorian white-collar crime, a subject scarcely understood then and often ignored by modern historians. There are also microhistories of convicts, including chain gang narratives from the southern US and transportees to Australia. Much of the detail in these narratives depends on the remarkable ability of historians today to use online primary sources to bring to life the forgotten. The book is scholarly and clearly written, extensively documented, and fascinating. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All academic levels/libraries.
CHOICE
Highlighting a diverse cast of characters - criminals, cops, clergy among others - this collection of essays about individuals and their relation to the criminal justice system in Britain, Europe and the United States provides a bottom up view of crime, police, and prisons. These microhistory case studies add an important dimension to generalized theories or statistics that describe structure and aggregate patterns of crime and criminal justice rather than unique experiences. In addition to specialists, students will find themselves engaged with the personal narratives that bring the past to life.
Wilbur R. Miller, Stony Brook University, USA
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