Stand and Review!
Nov. 29th, 2007 07:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bluegargantuaHi,
Just finished up Stand and Deliver! A History of Highway Robbery by David Brandon. And the title does not lie. It's all about the Highway Robbers of English history.
It's not a very good book.
Here's the deal: Highwaymen were not gallant, Robin Hood-like swashbucklers. They were criminals and often cruel, violent people at that. OK, fine. This is a point easily made and quickly understood. But it just keeps getting repeated over and over again. Every time they do a biography it ends with "and so he came to an ignoble end to an ignoble life -- a common thug and not a dashing rogue". The author seems to have such distaste for his subject he can't help but be disapproving of them all the time.
The book tends to repeat itself a lot. It says the same basic thing over and over again. Like how highwaymen were mostly brutal thugs who wound up swinging from the gallows more often than not. Among other things. That just keep getting repeated. Very annoying. If I never hear "crooks a snook" again, I'll be happy.
Also, records on the lives of most highwaymen is rather spotty at best and often concealed under years of romanticized retellings. So there's not a lot of details. In fact, the book runs rather short of highwaymen and turns to digressions on the development of police forces, organized crime in London, the death penalty and public execution as a deterrent to crime, and a glossary of places in Britain associated with highway robbery. It just peters off.
And yet, the book has a couple of redeeming features. The development of a modern police force in Britain was delayed as long as possible. Mostly crime-fighting was handled by the private sector (read: Bounty Hunters). The section on public hangings and how a supposed deterrent to crime became a lucrative holiday/festival is interesting. In the actual highway robber biographies, the chapter devoted to female highwaymen is a lot of fun. Considering how young they died, most highwaymen packed a lot of life into a short timeframe.
And there are two short passages that stood out:
"London society was turbulent and violent with a popular culture based around what would now be regarded as excessive drinking and short-term pleasures of an escapist nature."
"As a teenager, she was described as a 'rumpscuttle', a marvellous word meaning a tomboy or hoyden and now unfortunately obsolete."
But mostly...pretty weak.
But this is pretty awesome!
later
Tom
Just finished up Stand and Deliver! A History of Highway Robbery by David Brandon. And the title does not lie. It's all about the Highway Robbers of English history.
It's not a very good book.
Here's the deal: Highwaymen were not gallant, Robin Hood-like swashbucklers. They were criminals and often cruel, violent people at that. OK, fine. This is a point easily made and quickly understood. But it just keeps getting repeated over and over again. Every time they do a biography it ends with "and so he came to an ignoble end to an ignoble life -- a common thug and not a dashing rogue". The author seems to have such distaste for his subject he can't help but be disapproving of them all the time.
The book tends to repeat itself a lot. It says the same basic thing over and over again. Like how highwaymen were mostly brutal thugs who wound up swinging from the gallows more often than not. Among other things. That just keep getting repeated. Very annoying. If I never hear "crooks a snook" again, I'll be happy.
Also, records on the lives of most highwaymen is rather spotty at best and often concealed under years of romanticized retellings. So there's not a lot of details. In fact, the book runs rather short of highwaymen and turns to digressions on the development of police forces, organized crime in London, the death penalty and public execution as a deterrent to crime, and a glossary of places in Britain associated with highway robbery. It just peters off.
And yet, the book has a couple of redeeming features. The development of a modern police force in Britain was delayed as long as possible. Mostly crime-fighting was handled by the private sector (read: Bounty Hunters). The section on public hangings and how a supposed deterrent to crime became a lucrative holiday/festival is interesting. In the actual highway robber biographies, the chapter devoted to female highwaymen is a lot of fun. Considering how young they died, most highwaymen packed a lot of life into a short timeframe.
And there are two short passages that stood out:
"London society was turbulent and violent with a popular culture based around what would now be regarded as excessive drinking and short-term pleasures of an escapist nature."
"As a teenager, she was described as a 'rumpscuttle', a marvellous word meaning a tomboy or hoyden and now unfortunately obsolete."
But mostly...pretty weak.
But this is pretty awesome!
later
Tom
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Date: 2007-11-30 05:42 am (UTC)