19th Century… Review: “The 19th-Century Underworld: Crime, Controversy & Corruption” by Stephen Carver 10 May 2019 By Stephen Basdeo Everyone nowadays seems fascinated by the Victorian criminal underworld. From Ripper Street to Peaky Blinders, it seems people cannot get enough of murdered sex workers and brutal…
20th Century… “La Eme”—The Mexican Mafia 15 Apr 201915 Apr 2019 Robert Ramirez delves into the history of the infamous La Eme, better known as the Mexican Mafia. One of the most brutal gangs in existence is the Mexican Mafia, or,…
18th century… The Meaning of ‘Mafia’ 19 Oct 201819 Oct 2018 By Stephen Basdeo The early 1860s in Italy was a decade of hope. King Victor Emmanuel II of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia had, with Giuseppe Garibaldi’s help, unified the whole…
19th Century… Blind Justice in Eugene Sue’s “The Mysteries of Paris” (1842–3) 26 Jul 201826 Jul 2018 By Stephen Basdeo In the 19 June 1842, issue of the Parisian magazine, Journal des Debats, a new serialised novel appeared entitled The Mysteries of Paris, which ran weekly until 15 October 1843.…
11th Century… The Virgin and the Outlaw 5 Jun 2018 By Stephen Basdeo In modern popular culture, heroes often possess some supernatural powers, or at other times they are so skilled at what they do that their superiority often appears…
19th Century… The Mysteries of New York 16 May 2018 By Stephen Basdeo During the nineteenth century, a series of ‘Urban Mysteries’ novels were published. The most famous of these are Eugene Sue’s The Mysteries of Paris (1843), and…
