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Dan Cruickshank
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The Secret History of Georgian London: How the Wages of Sin Shaped the Capital Hardcover – International Edition, November 23, 2009

by Dan Cruickshank (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 89 ratings
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A world of riches and glamour, but also tragedy, abuse and disease, this book looks at how this influenced building and the arts in London.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    688 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Random House Books
  4. Publication date
    November 23, 2009
  5. Dimensions
    6.3 x 1.89 x 9.41 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1847945376
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1847945372
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House Books (November 23, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 688 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1847945376
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1847945372
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.4 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.3 x 1.89 x 9.41 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 89 ratings

About the author

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Dan Cruickshank

Dan Cruickshank

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Dan Cruickshank is an architectural historian and television presenter. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, a member of the Executive Committee of the Georgian Group, and on the Architectural Panel of the National Trust.

His recent work includes the television programmes and accompanying books Around the World in 80 Treasures (2005) and Dan Cruickshank's Adventures in Architecture (2008). He lives in Spitalfields, London.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
89 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Mfox
5.0 out of 5 stars Great seller
Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2021
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Great seller. Arrived quickly and just as described.
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Lauren Sheldon
4.0 out of 5 stars Only about the sex trade
Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2018
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This is a great book if all you want to know about is the sex trade and prostitution at the time and how it permeated society. But don't expect, like I did, info on the criminal underworld, organized crime, etc. This book does not go there. It is HUGE and just about the sex trade. Still good, though, just know that its scope is limited.
One person found this helpful
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Russell E. Munneke
5.0 out of 5 stars A hefty volume for a reasonable price.
Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2019
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Great background reading for Jane Austen's era!
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Teri Uenas
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2015
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Wonderful realistic view of historic London! Highly recommend!
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david brown
5.0 out of 5 stars Wide overview of Georgian prostitution and effect on arts and building.
Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2009
The Secret History of Georgian London is an engrossing study of the prostitution in Georgian London. The author, Dan Cruickshank, has written books on several subjects, including Georgian architecture. In this book he seeks to link prostitution to the wider Georgian society, including building and the arts.

The book is divided into several sections. The first is an overview of prostitution in Georgian London. A number of the women received contemporary biographies or, if imprisoned, were subjects of the Newgate Calender providing numerous personal histories. The next section addresses buildings used by the women and their customers. These included coffee and bath houses, inns and specialized hospitals or homes protecting "fallen" women. The next section addresses the relationship to the arts including serving as figures in the Three Penny Opera, numerous sitters for the painter Joshua Reynolds and the Hellfire Clubs.

The book covers a wide range of related topics. The material was well organized and footnoted. The writing was clear but not particularly fluid or memorable.

I think the subtitle "How the Wages of Sin Shaped the Capital" is perhaps a over representation of the material. While the individual topics were interesting they did not really come together in a larger context. For example writing about the links to the Three Penny Opera and Reynolds paintings was interesting but what of the thousands of other plays or paintings of the era. How did the "wages of sin" systematically effect those; unfortunately the book doesn't really answer that broader question.

However that does not detract from the topics covered and I can recommend the book to other readers interested in the milieu.
7 people found this helpful
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Susan Smith
4.0 out of 5 stars Epic tale of 18th century London - 4½ stars
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2010
I enjoyed reading this over the holidays. It is a real tour de force of the seamier side of life in Georgian London. It is full of vignettes and side trips into the lives of the famous and infamous as well as the lowly non-persons who populated London. We learn about high flying madams and successful prostitutes (Emma Harte - Lady Hamilton), Fanny Murray, etc, but also about the bullies and low life who helped establish them. I particularly enjoyed the very well researched and presented scenes from London courtrooms as Cruickshank tells of famous murders and examines the development and difficulties of 18th century British justice. We learnt about lots of very strange and weird folk like Dr James Graham of the Celestial Bed and his fascination with electricity learnt from Benjamin Franklin.

Initially I had the impression that the author wanted a tie-in with architecture and the social history of the underbelly of London. In this aspect I don't see that he made much of a strong case although we did learn about various charitable institutions catering for the children of harlots, the care of diseased streetwalkers and so forth. As someone involved in fundraising in my personal life, I found it fascinating to see how the Foundling Hospital and other great Georgian institutions were founded, funded and run. Not a great deal has changed!

I was glad that Cruickshank kept his focus on the lower orders here and did not try for a wider social history. By concetrating on such a tiny number of people, he made their impact seem large and important and caused me to re-think some of my perceptions of life in Georgian London.

I have some criticism, which to others may seem petty, but stopped this being a 5 star effort for me:

1. I could have done with a modern map of London to compare with the early ones

2. I would have appreciated the birth/death dates of the dramatis personae in the appendix if not the text

3. I felt there was a lack of summing up, of a conclusion, if you will, that drew all of the narrative and discussion together. Therefore the book seemed a review and not an essay for I am not sure what the author wanted us to come away with other than minute knowledge of London's seamier side of life.

4. The author refers to "the sex industry". Personally, I don't care for that terminology either then or now as it seems to somehow legitimise and almost romaticise a very sorry way of life. I certainly understand why women may have become involved in prostitution but I can't see it as an "industry".

5. I can see how the wages of sin shaped many aspects of life in Georgian London but I think it is stretching the argument that it physically shaped London. There were simply too few examples except for the aforementioned public buildings which, in the overall scheme, were very, very few.

I have copied the bibliography and already ordered a couple of books from it. A real tour de force but somehow not quite 5 stars for me.
7 people found this helpful
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Rajiv Chopra
4.0 out of 5 stars The Secret History Of Whores & Women Mistreated
Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2013
This book is an excellent read. It is meticulously researched, and very well presented. There is a wealth of information, and many, many names. What I like, is that when a name crops up at a page, he refers you back you an earlier page, so you can go back and refresh your memory. An excellent tool indeed.

The book is timely, in that it does great service to the women who have often been abused by people of power. Some of these women rose to power, and then died in misery. The tale of Ann Bell is really sad indeed. It is also very interesting to see how many characters of British fiction have been modeled on the players who walked on the world's stage at that time. It does shed clarity on the mores and morals of the times, and some of the poetry is really quite explicit. Good poetry, and well done!

The book opened my eyes to the happenings of the times, and I must say that I was quite riveted by the book.

A book I recommend to any history buff.
4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Jose A.
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating book
Reviewed in Spain on March 4, 2023
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After reading this book, I concluded that Georgian London must have been a fascinating metropolis, similar to that of the Habsburgs' Madrid or the Florence of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, an excellent backdrop for a novel.
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garry popper
5.0 out of 5 stars Long lost secrets
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 8, 2020
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Even as a scriptwriter and film producer this book has opened my eyes to a secret London that's been swept under the carpet for too many years. Dan Cruickshank's epic tale is well researched and littered with so much information, it beggars belief that I hadn't heard of it before. London, sex and money is now laid bare for all to see. The only downside is BBC's panto production of "The Harlots," a laughably poor production based on one of Cruickshank's works, which does not do his books and justice at all. BBC 0. Dan 10
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mondmaid
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, nice shop
Reviewed in Germany on November 13, 2018
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Fast delivery, good quality. Thanks a lot.
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Clifford
4.0 out of 5 stars The Sex Industry and the Role of Women in Fast-Growing London
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 23, 2013
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This book is a detailed history of sex in eighteenth and early nineteenth century London, where its commercial exploitation played a major part in the city's economy and even its architecture. Dan Cruickshank has here pulled together a vast amount of data, mostly in official records and literary pamphlets, which demonstrates the existence of an astonishing number of people involved in the sex industry, at a time when laws were struggling to keep pace with the rapidly changing social life in the expanding city. He has aimed to provide a broad-brush impression of life in the Capital, while including large numbers of illustrative cameos based on the many colourful characters who were active at the time. In particular, Cruickshank gives a wealth of detail on the generally subservient role of women, and many details concerning the notable females who managed to swim successfully against the tide of male oppression. It is a mighty book, with 568 pages of text supported by a further 85 of supporting notes and bibliographic data, and it will be valued as a source for those interested in understanding Georgian society, partly because it refuses to be coy about how people of both sexes enjoyed each other. Such aspects are by no means peripheral to an understanding of the times.
8 people found this helpful
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Rex Ide
5.0 out of 5 stars Georgian London
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 30, 2009
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I love the history of London having read just about everything pubished. This comes very near the to the best I have read. Informative and extremely entertaining, Dan Cruikshank is a great writer equal to Liza Picard in my view when it comes to historical London.
16 people found this helpful
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