Customer Reviews

The Regency Underworld (Sutton History Classics)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The seamier side of London in the early nineteenth century written with flare. This book was an enjoyable romp through the back streets, slums and 'rookeries' of London and the attempts by authorities to control them.

The book is packed full of detail of the people of the time including some of the more famous characters such as fences and theives and the methods they used to continue their trade. You can read about 'Mudlarks and scuffle hunters' of the river Thames, or if you prefer, the 'resurrectionists' who traded in dead bodies for medical students.

Low also draws deeply on literature of the time such as Pierce Egan's "Life in London" which is chock full of authentic Regency-era slang. For instance Money could be referred to as "Blunt, rhino, flash the screens, sport the rhino, show the needful, post the pony, nap the rent, stump the pewter, tip the brads down with the dust only get into tip street."

Some great illustrations and a fun trip into the life among the lower orders.

Gentle Journey
This book is fantastic for the Regency writer who wants to be accurate with their historical facts, but it is also as easy to read through as a novel and filled with interesting details. I am very glad I bought it.

When this book popped up on my reading rotation, I was really looking forward to what promised to be an interesting work. After all, how could an author miss with the subject matter of crime (and, hopefully, punishment) during one of the most deliciously dissolute periods of English history? Well, turns out that if he concentrates the major portion of the first part of the book on a too detailed background of the founding of the Metropolitan Police and only the last, relatively few, pages to interesting portraits of four of the era's notable scalawags, it can be done. In short, should have provided more vignettes and less of what amounts to legislative history. Overall, it reminded me of Jessica Warner's "Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of Reason:" much promised, less delivered.

This book shocked me, educated me and was truly a page turner.

I purchased this book as I am doing some research into the period and it didn't disappoint. The book focuses on the darker side of life which is present in every society in some form.

If you are looking to understand our history and human nature you will discover that soccer hooliganism is nothing new.

This book, THE REGENCY UNDERWORLD, does a good job of depicting the social reality of London's underbelly, circa 1800. Unlit streets, bad smells, contaminated water and food, throngs of poor, excess wealth and fine taste, all merge nicely in this piece. The book does a fine job of capturing another world, one which would no doubt scare the daylights out of anyone today. It is one benchmark for speaking about "progress" in the course of 19th century England.