The English and Violence since 1750 / Edition 1

by Clive Emsley

Overview

The garrotters who terrified London in 1862, the Irish Fenians who carried our terrorist bombings in London and the gangs who dominated parts of the East End in the early years of the twentieth century all used violence to achieve their ends. Hard Men is a survey of the changing pattern of violent behaviour, public and private, in England over two hundred and fifty years. People in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were certainly more tolerant of domestic violence and rough communal sports and celebrations than their grandchildren. Contentious public meetings, notably elections, could end in serious injuries; the state and the police exercised control by violent means where they deemed it necessary; and there were of course violent crimes committed by men, women and children. While the exercise of violence reflected changes in society and attitudes, it is difficult to point to a golden age in the past without it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781852855024
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/20/2007
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.51(d)

About the Author

CLIVE EMSLEY is Professor of History and Co-Director of the International Centre for Comparative Criminological Research at the Open University. His books include Crime and Society in England, 1750-1900, The English Police: A Political and Social History and Gendarmes and the State in Nineteenth-Century Europe.

Table of Contents

IllustrationsPrefaceAbbreviations1 A Violent Society? 2 Garotters, Gangsters and Perverts3 Play the Game4 Family and Home5 Foreign Passions: English Laws6 Violent Protest7 Stones and Fisticuffs8 Violent Policemen9 Viokence and the State10 The PresentNotes Index

Editorial Reviews

."..an extended meditation on one of the most durable images of Englishness, the intertwined ideals of the "fair fight" and gentlemanly self-restraint." The Journal of Modern History, September 2008.--Sanford Lakoff

."..combining detailed primary research with up-to-date commentary on the field of violence history. The result combines academic rigor with accessible writing and will appeal to specialists and lay readers alike...this effective, lively and accessible work...will be essential reading for anyone interested in the history of violence."
J. Carter Wood, The Journal of Social History --Sanford Lakoff

From the Publisher