Night Raiders by Eloise Moss
Night Raiders is the first history of burglary in modern Britain. Until 1968, burglary was defined in law as occurring only between the 'night-time' hours of nine pm and six am in residential buildings. Time and space gave burglary a unique cloak of terror, since burglars' victims were likely to be in the bedroom, asleep and unawares, when the intruder crept in, prowling near them in the darkness. Yet fear sometimes gave way to sexual fantasy; eroticized visions of handsome young thieves sneaking around the boudoirs of beautiful, lonely heiresses emerged alongside tales of violence and loss in popular culture, confounding social commentators by casting the burglar as criminal hero. Night Raiders charts how burglary lay historically at the heart of national debates over the meanings of 'home', experiences of urban life, and social inequality. The book explores intimate stories of the devastation caused by burglars' presence in the most private domains, showing how they are deeply embedded within broader histories of capitalism and liberal democracy. The fear and fascination surrounding burglary were mobilized by media, state, and market to sell insurance and security technologies, whilst also popularising the crime in fiction, theatre, and film. Cat burglars' rooftop adventures transformed ideas about the architecture and policing of the city, and post-war 'spy-burglars' theft of information illuminated Cold War skirmishes across the capital. More than any other crime, burglary shaped the everyday rhythms, purchases, and perceptions of modern urban life.
Night Raiders is an important contribution to the modern history of crimeIt will be of particular interest to those historians interested in the public perceptions of crime, in the connections between crime and urban society, and in the exploration of burglary as a discrete form of criminality. * Victor Bailey, Journal of Modern History *
[A] detailed, richly informative account of burglary in the British capital ... A number of [...] chapters are full not only of delightful information but provocative ideas. * Matthew Beaumont, The Telegraph *
In Eloise Moss, that nocturnal invasion of the Englishman's castle has found its most able historian ... the book reveals delights and surprises for the historian, offering every conceivable aspect of burglary in British legal and social history for consideration ... Perhaps the greatest strength in her arguments and assertions about the importance of burglary is in the dimension of urban life and housing, as she provides impressive detail on these topics, covering everything one might imagine, from metaphors of rape to police and public relations. * Stephen Wade, The Times Literary Supplement *
Eloise Moss' excellent new history of burglars and burglary [is] the result of meticulous research coupled with a style that is highly readable and often amusing. The book is packed with little details that bring it alive. * Clive Bloom, The Times Higher Education Supplement *
In this engaging first monograph...Moss makes a compelling case for the centrality of burglary and its ever-present threat as essential in understanding urban societies. * Jim Hinks, History *
Using official records, newspaper reports, books, films and television programmes, both fact and fiction, [Moss] has put together a vivid account of the history of burglary ... [which] should be of interest to a wide range of readers. * Tony Moore, London Historians *
It's a brilliantly original book ... The gender study within the narrative is a gold mine and upends the normative assumption that burglars were always and only men. * Richard Lofthouse, QUAD *
One of the great strengths of this book is its effective mixture of perspectives, whether those of burglars themselves, the police, private security companies, burglary victims, journalists, and novelists. In particular, the recurrent analysis of how individual, institutional, state, and market interests intersected to invest burglary with cultural meaning enables the book to offer intriguing new insights into a well-researched period. * Dr John Carter Wood, Cultural and Social History *
Night Raiders deserves a wide readership as it expands and deepens our knowledge of property crime and its perception. Engagingly written and priced at £25, it is likely to secure one. Bursting with fresh information and novel insights, [Night Raiders] is an important point of reference for historians interested in the public perception of crime. Because burglary touches on issues of citizenship, home, family, lifestyles and urban living, Moss chooses to speak to a wider academic and non-academic audience interested in history through crime rather than crime history per se. * Professor Mark Roodhouse, Journal of Social History *
Night Raiders is a perceptive and entertaining work of historical recovery and cultural analysis. It is written with considerable panache - at times echoing the crime fiction that provides one of its sources - and unusually well illustrated, and its argument is underpinned by Moss's impressively detailed research in a range of different archives ... this fine monograph demonstrates that there is still plenty that historians can mine from the seam of evidence about past breaches of the law. * Adrian Bingham, Journal of British Studies *
[A] detailed, richly informative account of burglary in the British capital ... A number of [...] chapters are full not only of delightful information but provocative ideas. * Matthew Beaumont, The Telegraph *
In Eloise Moss, that nocturnal invasion of the Englishman's castle has found its most able historian ... the book reveals delights and surprises for the historian, offering every conceivable aspect of burglary in British legal and social history for consideration ... Perhaps the greatest strength in her arguments and assertions about the importance of burglary is in the dimension of urban life and housing, as she provides impressive detail on these topics, covering everything one might imagine, from metaphors of rape to police and public relations. * Stephen Wade, The Times Literary Supplement *
Eloise Moss' excellent new history of burglars and burglary [is] the result of meticulous research coupled with a style that is highly readable and often amusing. The book is packed with little details that bring it alive. * Clive Bloom, The Times Higher Education Supplement *
In this engaging first monograph...Moss makes a compelling case for the centrality of burglary and its ever-present threat as essential in understanding urban societies. * Jim Hinks, History *
Using official records, newspaper reports, books, films and television programmes, both fact and fiction, [Moss] has put together a vivid account of the history of burglary ... [which] should be of interest to a wide range of readers. * Tony Moore, London Historians *
It's a brilliantly original book ... The gender study within the narrative is a gold mine and upends the normative assumption that burglars were always and only men. * Richard Lofthouse, QUAD *
One of the great strengths of this book is its effective mixture of perspectives, whether those of burglars themselves, the police, private security companies, burglary victims, journalists, and novelists. In particular, the recurrent analysis of how individual, institutional, state, and market interests intersected to invest burglary with cultural meaning enables the book to offer intriguing new insights into a well-researched period. * Dr John Carter Wood, Cultural and Social History *
Night Raiders deserves a wide readership as it expands and deepens our knowledge of property crime and its perception. Engagingly written and priced at £25, it is likely to secure one. Bursting with fresh information and novel insights, [Night Raiders] is an important point of reference for historians interested in the public perception of crime. Because burglary touches on issues of citizenship, home, family, lifestyles and urban living, Moss chooses to speak to a wider academic and non-academic audience interested in history through crime rather than crime history per se. * Professor Mark Roodhouse, Journal of Social History *
Night Raiders is a perceptive and entertaining work of historical recovery and cultural analysis. It is written with considerable panache - at times echoing the crime fiction that provides one of its sources - and unusually well illustrated, and its argument is underpinned by Moss's impressively detailed research in a range of different archives ... this fine monograph demonstrates that there is still plenty that historians can mine from the seam of evidence about past breaches of the law. * Adrian Bingham, Journal of British Studies *
Eloise Moss is Lecturer in Modern British History at the University of Manchester. Her research deals with histories of crime, gender, and urban culture from the Victorian period to the present. You can follow her on twitter: @ladyburglar.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780198840381 |
| ISBN 10 | 0198840381 |
| Title | Night Raiders |
| Author | Eloise Moss |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Year published | 2019-07-04 |
| Number of pages | 268 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |