A captivating history of a notorious neighborhood and the first book to reveal why London’s East End became synonymous with lawlessness and crime Even before Jack the Ripper haunted its streets for prey, London’s East End had earned a reputation for immorality, filth, and vice. John Bennett, a writer and tour guide who has walked and researched the area for more than thirty years, delves into four centuries of history to chronicle the crimes, their perpetrators, and the circumstances that made the East End an ideal breeding ground for illegal activity. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Britain’s industrial boom drew thousands of workers to the area, leading to overcrowding and squalor. But crime in the area flourished long past the Victorian period. Drawing on original archival history and featuring a fascinating cast of characters including the infamous Ripper, highwayman Dick Turpin, the Kray brothers, and a host of ordinary evildoers, this gripping and deliciously unsavory volume will fascinate Londonphiles and true crime lovers alike.

本書は、三十年以上にわたり東ロンドンの路地を歩き続けた著者による、都市の闇への深い偏愛に満ちた一冊です。単なる事件史ではなく、産業革命がもたらした過密と貧困がいかにしてこの地を「悪徳の揺り籠」へ変容させたのか。その必然性を描く筆致は、読者を霧深きヴィクトリア朝の迷宮へと引きずり込みます。 伝説の殺人鬼から無名の小悪党まで、歴史の影に埋もれた群像劇は圧巻です。犯罪を個人の資質ではなく、都市という有機体が生み出した歪みとして捉える視座には鋭い洞察が光ります。血の匂いと煤煙が混じり合う、残酷に美しいロンドンの裏側をぜひ肌で感じてください。