The history of modern crime control is usually presented as a narrative of how the state wrested control over the governance of crime from the civilian public. Most accounts trace the decline of a participatory, discretionary culture of crime control in the early modern era, and its replacement by a centralized, bureaucratic system of responding to offending. The formation of the "new" professional police forces in the nineteenth century is central to this narrative: henceforth, it is claimed, the priorities of criminal justice were to be set by the state, as ordinary people lost what authority they had once exercised over dealing with offenders.
This book challenges this established view, and presents a fundamental reinterpretation of changes to crime control in the age of the new police. It breaks new ground by providing a highly detailed, empirical analysis of everyday crime control in Victorian provincial cities-revealing the tremendous activity which ordinary people displayed in responding to crime-alongside a rich survey of police organization and policing in practice.
The saga of the legendary Courtney family continues in this fourteenth installment in Wilbur Smith’s bestselling series—the sequel to 2009’s Assegai—a thrilling tale of espionage, adventure, and danger, set in Africa and spanning from the Great War’s end to the dark days of World War II.
As a member of the remarkable Courtney family, Leon Courtney knows how quickly fortunes can be won and lost. Over the course of more than two centuries, generations of his family have risen and fallen with the tides of history. Leon, too, has experienced his own share of triumph and pain. In the wake of his beloved wife’s death, the renowned big-game hunter is raising his young daughter, Saffron, alone in colonial Kenya.
In the 1920s, the continent of Africa is a dangerous place. As Leon attempts to navigate the murky political waters of this most exquisitely beautiful and wildest of lands, his daughter grows into an independent and headstrong young woman bound for a far different life in Britain, as a student at Oxford.
But over the course of more than two decades, spies, traitors, and adventurers will dog their every step. As the fitful years of peace lead to the outbreak of the Second World War—involving Africa once more—Leon and Saffron must fight for their survival . . . and that of their illustrious family.
Wilbur Smith masterfully captures the tensions that will spark a war across continents—and the uncertainty and hopes of a father and daughter caught in its grips—in this engrossing novel that delivers the fast-paced action and vivid history that have made him a living legend.
David Churchill's The Leopards of Normandy trilogy continues with Duke, as William of Normandy inherits his father's title and assumes command of his lands. Churchill's style brings to mind the vibrancy of Conn Iggulden and will enthral fans of Bernard Cornwell and Ben Kane.
William the Bastard, boy Duke of Normandy, is alone in a world filled with enemies. His father, Robert, is dead and the men chosen to protect William are falling prey, one by one, to a conspiracy controlled and manipulated by a man who has spent a lifetime being mocked and ridiculed, but now burns with the need to be feared and obeyed.
In England, two women, equally matched in their beauty, strength and limitless ambition, seek power through their sons. They wield no swords and command no armies but their struggle for the Crown is as bitter as any war. And between them stands Godwin, Earl of Wessex, seeking to build a dynasty that will outlast them all.
One day, William will join the struggle for dominion over England. But for now he must fight just to survive, to reach manhood and then to impose his will on those who would oppose him. Including the young woman he wants for his wife.
