The English and Violence since 1750

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

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.

Reviews

"...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 -- J. Carter Wood, The Open University
"...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. -- George K. Behlmer

Author Bio

Clive Emsley is Emeritus Professor and founder Co-Director of the International Centre for Comparative Criminological Research at the Open University, UK. 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. CLIVE EMSLEY is Professor of History at the Open University, Milton Keynes, England. Among his earlier publications is Policing Western Europe (Greenwood Press, 1991). LOUIS A. KNAFLA is Professor of History, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and the long-time editor of Criminal Justice History: An International Annual.