Albion's fatal tree
Subtitle: crime and society in eighteenth-century England
By: Douglas Hay, Peter Linebaugh, John G. Rule, E.P. Thompson, Cal Winslow
Edition: Rev. ed.
Publisher: Verso
Published: 2011
Place of publication: London; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 352
ISBN-13: 9781844677160
Subjects: Crime; Violence; History
Description: In the popular imagination, informed as it is by Hogarth, Swift, Defoe and Fielding, the eighteenth-century underworld is a place of bawdy knockabout, rife with colourful eccentrics. But the artistic portrayals we have only hint at the dark reality. In this new edition of a classic collection of essays, renowned social historians from Britain and America examine the gangs of criminals who tore apart English society, while a criminal law of unexampled savagery struggled to maintain stability. Douglas Hay deals with the legal system that maintained the propertied classes, and in another essay shows it in brutal action against poachers; John G. Rule and Cal Winslow tell of smugglers and wreckers, showing how these activities formed a natural part of the life of traditional communities. Together with Peter Linebaugh's piece on the riots against the surgeons at Tyburn, and E. P. Thompson's illuminating work on anonymous threatening letters, these essays form a powerful contribution to the study of social tensions at a transformative and vibrant stage in English history. -- Back cover.
Notes: "First published by Pantheon Books 1975"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Table of contents: title: Property, authority and the criminal law / Douglas Hay; title: The Tyburn riot against the surgeons / Peter Linebaugh; title: Sussex smugglers / Cal Winslow; title: Wrecking the coastal plunder / John G. Rule; title: Poaching and the game laws on Cannock Chase / Douglas Hay; title: The crime of anonymity / E.P. Thompson; title: Appendix: a sampler of letters.