Book review; The Victorian Underworld

The Victorian Underworld by Donald Thomas

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This might actually be the very best writer's resource for the Victorian period in England I have ever encountered. Western literature is stuffed full of depictions of the glamorous upper class, but the depictions of the middle and lower classes are reliably shallow, and often quite poorly thought out. This book, based on the social work of Mr. Mayhew, who went amoung the poor and the criminal classes and recorded, in their own words, their answers to his interview questions, reflects a much richer, and more nuanced reality of the society upon which the 'literary Victorian' society was balanced.

This book illustrates the underclasses' strata of rankings, describes how they perceived themselves in the mews and rookeries of pre-blitz London. It has chapters on pornography and prostitution, thieves and beggars, crooked police, prisons and punishment, and epic swindles that put one instantly in mind of modern Wall Street. Any reader who is at all salient on the points of current affairs in the West will find a wealth of eerie similarities between the political and social environment of the later 1800's and today.

I recommend this book without reserve, however I will give the caveat that it's excellent for nibbling upon as one has a taste for it, as opposed to a face-hugging book. However, seeing as how it's a history sampler and a reference book, this is entirely forgivable in my scoring system.



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