Bloomsbury Law, Crime and Deviance since 1700: Micro-Studies in the History of Crime

Product Description Law, Crime and Deviance since 1700 explores the potential for the micro-study approach to the history of crime and legal history. A selection of in-depth narrative micro-studies are featured to illustrate specific issues associated with the theme of crime and the law in historical context. The methodology used unpacks the wider historiographical and contextual issues related to each thematic area and facilitates discussion of the wider implications for the history of crime and social relations. The case studies in the volume cover a range of incidents relating to crime, law and deviant behaviour since 1700, from policing vice in Victorian London to chain gang narratives from the southern United States. The book concludes by demonstrating how these narratives can be brought together to produce a more nuanced history of the area and suggests avenues for future research and study. Review 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 About the Author David Nash is Professor of History at Oxford Brookes University, UK.Anne-Marie Kilday is Principal Lecturer in History at Oxford Brookes University, UK.