Books by Oskar Jensen

“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