The author, Mrs Nevinson, was a social worker and she relates these heart wrenching tales arising from her work in London in the the early nineteenth century. The book is a series of short case studies and she describes her encounters with the sick and impoverished who fell prey to the iniquitous British "Poor Laws". She writes with warmth and compassion, even finding occasional moments of humour. The publicity which this book received caused some outrage and led to a softening of official attitudes.
Simon Boyle
Lowestoft UK
Within Prison Walls. Osborne. 1914
One of the ‘many books’ I had no idea I wanted to read. Thomas Osborne was a civic leader and pal of Roosevelt. He had an interest in prison reform and caused himself to be locked up in Auburn prison for a week to check on conditions. This is his tale of that escapade.
Clearly a kindly and well-intentioned individual, he was a massive hit with the regular inmates but was savagely mocked by the press. Some corrupt NYC officials even attempted to destroy his career but he rose above the criticism and went on to become Governor of Sing Sing. His reforms led to far reaching improvements. He tells his tale with warmth and good humour and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
Simon Boyle Lowestoft UK
The Sexual Life of the Child. Dr Albert Moll. 1912
This is an astonishing book which must have been years ahead of it’s time when it was published. I’d like to think it was one of those ‘dirty books’ surreptitiously passed around amongst the teenagers of the day because many of the boys would have been spared a great deal of mental anguish on hearing from an authoritative source that self abuse was practised by eighty to ninety percent of their number and it was the remainder who tended to suffer problems. A far cry from the sanctimonious “Advice for Boys” type of material with which they were routinely bombarded in those days!
This book is, of course, no more than an interesting historical document yet it’s difficult to find significant discrepancies between the theories propounded by Dr Moll and modern thinking. It makes one wonder what the researchers in this field have been doing for the past hundred years.
Simon Boyle, Lowestoft UK
Recent comments: User reviews
Simon Boyle
Lowestoft UK
One of the ‘many books’ I had no idea I wanted to read. Thomas Osborne was a civic leader and pal of Roosevelt. He had an interest in prison reform and caused himself to be locked up in Auburn prison for a week to check on conditions. This is his tale of that escapade.
Clearly a kindly and well-intentioned individual, he was a massive hit with the regular inmates but was savagely mocked by the press. Some corrupt NYC officials even attempted to destroy his career but he rose above the criticism and went on to become Governor of Sing Sing. His reforms led to far reaching improvements. He tells his tale with warmth and good humour and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
Simon Boyle Lowestoft UK
This is an astonishing book which must have been years ahead of it’s time when it was published. I’d like to think it was one of those ‘dirty books’ surreptitiously passed around amongst the teenagers of the day because many of the boys would have been spared a great deal of mental anguish on hearing from an authoritative source that self abuse was practised by eighty to ninety percent of their number and it was the remainder who tended to suffer problems. A far cry from the sanctimonious “Advice for Boys” type of material with which they were routinely bombarded in those days!
This book is, of course, no more than an interesting historical document yet it’s difficult to find significant discrepancies between the theories propounded by Dr Moll and modern thinking. It makes one wonder what the researchers in this field have been doing for the past hundred years.
Simon Boyle, Lowestoft UK