Violent Victorians - by Rosalind Crone (Paperback)

About the Book

First book to bring together the wide range of violent entertainments that characterised popular culture in nineteenth-century London and seriously assesses their origins, functions and impact. Draws upon the methodologies of social and cultural history to better understand the texture of Victorian society, and the mental world of the lower orders.

Book Synopsis

By drawing attention to the wide range of gruesome, bloody and confronting amusements patronised by ordinary Londoners this book challenges our understanding of Victorian society and culture. From the turn of the nineteenth century, graphic, yet orderly, 're-enactments' of high level violence flourished in travelling entertainments, penny broadsides, popular theatres, cheap instalment fiction and Sunday newspapers. This book explores the ways in which these entertainments siphoned off much of the actual violence that had hitherto been expressed in all manner of social and political dealings, thus providing a crucial accompaniment to schemes for the reformation of manners and the taming of the streets, while also serving as a social safety valve and a check on the growing cultural hegemony of the middle class.

From the Back Cover

We are often told that the Victorians were far less violent than their forebears: over the course of the nineteenth century, violent sports were mostly outlawed, violent crime, including homicide, began to decline, and bodily punishments, including hanging, were increasingly hidden from public view. They were also much more respectable, and actively sought orderly, uplifting, domestic and refined pastimes. Yet these were the very same people who celebrated the exceptionally violent careers of anti-heroes such as the brutal puppet Punch and the murderous barber Sweeney Todd.

Violent Victorians tackles this incongruity head on, drawing attention to the wide range of gruesome, bloody and confronting amusements and pastimes, patronised by ordinary Londoners, that did not conform to the values of respectability which we so often claim characterised Victorian culture. From the turn of the nineteenth century, graphic, yet orderly, 're-enactments' of high-level violence, with foundations in fact and fiction, flourished in travelling entertainments, penny broadsides, popular theatres, cheap instalment fiction and Sunday newspapers. This book explores the ways in which violent representations siphoned off much of the actual violence that had hitherto been expressed in all manner of social and political dealings, thus providing a crucial accompaniment to schemes for the reformation of manners and the taming of the streets, while also serving as a check on the growing cultural hegemony of the middle class.

Violent Victorians will appeal to scholars in a range of disciplines, from history and literature, to cultural studies, media studies and criminology, as well as anyone with an interest in the Victorian period or in the function of violent entertainments.

Review Quotes

Rosalind Crone's Violent Victorians is the kind of book that should be on every undergraduate reading list for 19th-century studies.'
Jennifer Wallis, Reviews in History, 28/06/2012

'illuminating, well-researched and persuasively argued...In sum an absorbing, lively read.'
Clive Emsley, BBC History, 01/08/2012

'This is a stimulating book, well illustrated and a lively and creative cover.'
Drew Gray, The London Journal, Vol. 37 No. 3, November 2012

'A fascinating and important new study'
Richard M. Ward, Urban History, Vol. 40

About the Author

Rosalind Crone is Lecturer in History at the Open University.