Through the personal accounts of the debtors the incarcerated are given a voice. An in depth account of the Marshalsea Prison, the culture of debt, credit and commerce and everyday economy of the commonplace necessities of life and trade in the Capital during the eighteenth and nineteenth century.Ī study of people as well as an institution all human life is here. Mansions of Misery has much in common with Rothschild Buildings in that it is a “microhistory of a small distinctive community” and focuses on individual stories in minutiae, and most entertaining detail. The superb Rothschild Buildings: Life in an East End Tenement Block 1887-1920 (1980) contributed to two dissertations and later, as a lecturer in social history, it became a perennial staple on the essential reading list. My introduction to the work of Jerry White was some time ago as a history student. Mansions of Misery, A Biography of the Marshalsea Debtors’ Prison by Jerry White.īook review and guest post by LH Member Jane Young.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |