Vice, Crime, and Poverty

Dominique Kalifa is one of the best French cultural historians of his generation and a worthy successor to Alain Corbin at the Sorbonne. Vice, Crime, and Poverty examines the urban 'underworld,' not in the twentieth-century sense of organized crime but as an imaginary shaped discursively in the nineteenth century by a widespread if morbid fascination with the apparent dangers of urban life. -- Edward Berenson, author of <i>Europe in the Modern World</i> This is a lively and fun read. More than tracing the evolution of living conditions of the poor and indigent, Vice, Crime, and Poverty also represents an important contribution to the histoire des mentalites, telling us how different eras viewed the poor in terms of social changes at those times. The transnational aspect greatly enhances this study, making it a significant contribution to the field by offering insights into both European and American history. -- Venita Datta, author of <i>Heroes and Legends of Fin-de-Siecle France: Gender, Politics, and National Identity</i> Kalifa is the leading historian still teaching and writing about modern French history in France. In Vice, Crime, and Poverty, he shows how the lowest of the lower classes came to be represented by, or analogized with, indigenous colonized peoples. He offers interesting reflections on the successors of the inhabitants of the bas-fonds and the emergence of new designations for them, along with the internationalization of crime. Yet again, Kalifa provides much to discuss. -- John Merriman, author of <i>Ballad of the Anarchist Bandits: The Crime Spree that Gripped Belle Epoque Paris</i> In theory, we've left those ideas behind. In practice, the poor, the mentally ill, and those classified as deviant are all still seen too often as a single stigmatized mass, to be cured, saved, policed, condescended to, and enjoyed as lurid entertainment by those who consider themselves their social superiors. * Pacific Standard * A blurring of any distinction between the place and the population runs throughout the texts Kalifa draws on, which include novels, police memoirs, newspaper articles by undercover reporters and pleas by social reformers. * Inside Higher Ed * Kalifa's research is virtuosic, incorporating every type of source under the sun - poetry, sociology, films, popular songs, literature, journalism - and is endlessly entertaining. -- Hadley Suter * Los Angeles Review of Books * Beautiful book, rich of literature, anecdotes, stories. . . . Highly recommended. * Al Femminile * The breadth of insights contained in Vice, Crime and Poverty is breathtaking... engaging, methodologically sophisticated, and thought provoking. * H-France * Colorfully written, jargon free, and nicely translated, this volume suggests that every generation gets the underworld it needs. * Choice *