Nether World: Crime and the Police Courts in Victorian London

Nether World is a fascinating exploration of the everyday lives of Victorian Londoners through the city’s police courts, where people of all classes came to complain about those who had hurt, abused or stolen from them. To these courts were brought the capital’s drunks, pickpockets, wife-beaters and fraudsters, and they were judged by magistrates who wielded wide-ranging, summary powers. Drew D. Gray provides a rich, sometimes moving, often humorous glimpse into everyday life in Victorian London, told through the underexamined court records and the pages of a fast-developing newspaper industry. Nether World is a vivid picture of a vibrant, ever-changing metropolis and its people, and illuminates issues that still blight our modern city, such as poverty and homelessness, violence, substance abuse, prostitution and crime.