19th Century… Lines Written by a New York Homeless Woman 30 Jun 2020 By Stephen Basdeo I recently came across a fascinating book titled Darkness and Daylight; or, Lights and Shadows of New York Life (1891), which formed the basis of another post…
19th Century… How Victorians Fell in Love with American Rebels 17 Apr 202017 Apr 2020 By Stephen Basdeo The much vaunted ‘special relationship’ between the USA and the UK is a fairly recent invention. For much of the Victorian period, relations between the two nations…
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…
20th Century… Mexican Cartels 11 May 201812 May 2018 By Carlos Rodriguez One of the first drug cartels in Mexico, the Guadalajara Cartel, was established by the notorious Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, also known as ‘the Godfather’. During the…
19th Century… The Underclass of 19th-Century New York City: The Work of Jacob A. Riis (1849-1914) 2 May 20182 May 2018 Stephen Basdeo examines the work of nineteenth-century American social reformer, Jacob A. Riis (1849-1914). Amongst British nineteenth-century scholars, Henry Mayhew is perhaps the best known of all social investigators, along…