THE ANTI-SOCIETY: An Account of the Victorian Underworld

by Kellow Chesney ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 15, 1970

Poormen, beggarmen, thieves. . . . . an affluent variety thereof in this non-judgmental, extroverted vista of the ""dangerous classes"" during the middle years of the 19th century. Working from contemporary sources and using many illustrations of the time (particularly the remarkably telling Dore drawings) Mr. Chesney has ordered the material well. There were the more or less settled practitioners of low crime--the navvies (construction laborers), costermongers and chimney sweeps as well as a vagrant population consisting of mouchers, Romanies and tinkers. In what is essentially a descriptive presentation there follows a view of the slums and rookeries and all the different kinds of malfeasance (forgery, extortion, prostitution, etc.) along with the informing incidentals: one might skin a little girl (take her clothes) or deflower her to cure venereal disease. All in all a lively spectacle of this submerged world before it became ""in a word, Victorian"" and preserving its argot like ""slang,"" which then meant false or sham.

Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1970

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Gambit

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1970

Categories: NONFICTION