The Blackest Streets
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I am enjoying this book because it has shed new light on my own family's story as they lived in Bethnal Green at the end of the 19th century. The use of personal stories especially those of Arthur Harding is very effective and one of the best things about the book. I have struggled with its over-wordiness in places and the insertion of several numerical facts one after the other but on the whole it's very readable and an important historical record of a largely ignored problem.
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What a Book! Social history at its very best
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I have seldom read such an affecting book. It is a model of accessible, informative and gripping social history. Through meticulous research, it tells the lives of those people who lived in the area known as "The Nicol" in East London in the late 19th c. there are countless individual stories of heartbreaking poverty, set against the bigger picture of social, political and religious reforms and the history of urban victorian slums. Contemporary photographs and etchings are really illustrative and help bring the area to life. I have ancestors who lived in the area and it provided a fascinating and humbling glimpse of their lives but this book is so well written and informative, in a very accessible style that anyone interested in history will enjoy it. It is a real page turner - I was completely caught up in the day to day lives of the people of the Nicol. Utterly compelling and highly recommended. My book of the year so far.
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A Glimpse of the First Sink Estates
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Thank you Sarah for setting out in great detail what many refuse to accept - poor social planning has its consequences. Today, we read of sink estates, crime and poverty unaware that these issues are not new. Sarah Wise has highlighted the attitudes that existed in the 19th century to proper housing for the working classes, and when we look at the problems surround modern day housing estates we find that little has changed. Councils, Housing Trusts and Landlords indifferent to the conditions of their tenants so long as the money is rolling in, and when dissent is voiced, use the law, use the courts use any means possible to avoid the legal, moral and social responsibilities of the provision and maintainence of decent housing. Sarah's message is buried deep in the pages of this marvellous book, which is a wealth of social and urban history.
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