Lost Londons: Crime, Control, and Change in a Capital City, 1545-1660

FAIN: FT-52576-04

Paul Douglas Griffiths
Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Ames, IA 50011-2000)

"Lost Londons" is a book about coming to terms with the startlinggrowth, change and disorder in the century after 1550 that altered London forever. My core concerns are attempts by governors to understand/tackle petty crime and other social disorders through policing, institutions, surveillance and changing conceptions of crime. Other significant issues include conditions in London, its environment, women's work and crime, and medical and legal cultures. This is the first full study of petty crime anywhere in England and of policing London before 1660. Because I work for the most part with petty crime (unlike previous historians), I am able to offer new interpretations of public policing and prosecution, and the nature and development of penal regimes and institutions.