CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title 2017

Law, Crime and Deviance since 1700 explores the potential for the 'micro-study' approach to the history of crime and legal history. A selection of in-depth narrative micro-studies are featured to illustrate specific issues associated with the theme of crime and the law in historical context. The methodology used unpacks the wider historiographical and contextual issues related to each thematic area and facilitates discussion of the wider implications for the history of crime and social relations.

The case studies in the volume cover a range of incidents relating to crime, law and deviant behaviour since 1700, from policing vice in Victorian London to chain gang narratives from the southern United States. The book concludes by demonstrating how these narratives can be brought together to produce a more nuanced history of the area and suggests avenues for future research and study.

David Nash is Professor of History at Oxford Brookes University, UK. He is editor of the journal Social and Cultural History and author of several books, including Christian Ideals in British Society: Stories of Belief in the Twentieth Century (2013) and Blasphemy in the Christian World (2007).

Anne-Marie Kilday is Professor of Criminal History at Oxford Brookes University, UK. She is author of A History of Infanticide in Britain (2013), co-author of Cultures of Shame: Exploring Crime and Morality in Britain 1600-1900 (2010) and editor (with David Nash) of Histories of Crime, 1600-2000 (2010).