Vagabonds

“What’s original about this book is that it tells us the story of Victorian London from 1780 to about 1870…from street level. He tries to recapture the first-hand accounts of the beggars, the thieves, the musicians, the sex workers, the porters…What is very impressive and touching is that this is a world full of poverty, violence and arbitrariness, but people do extraordinary things as well. That’s what’s so great about this book: you see all the sides. You see what a struggle it is just to eke out an existence. Sometimes, life in the Victorian era is sugar-coated. Until recently, people were talking about Victorian values as if it was a great thing to go back to that time. This dispels that myth, but it also isn’t a book that simply looks at poor people as victims. It shows that they are capable—under certain, very limited circumstances—of doing something wonderful with their lives, even if it’s just for a fleeting instance.” Read more...

The Best History Books of 2023: The Wolfson History Prize

Sudhir Hazareesingh, Political Scientist