David Nash is Professor of History at Oxford Brookes University, UK. He is editor of the journal Social and Cultural History and author of several books, including Christian Ideals in British Society: Stories of Belief in the Twentieth Century (2013) and Blasphemy in the Christian World (2007).Anne-Marie Kilday is Professor of Criminal History at Oxford Brookes University, UK. She is author of A History of Infanticide in Britain (2013), co-author of Cultures of Shame: Exploring Crime and Morality in Britain 1600-1900 (2010) and editor (with David Nash) of Histories of Crime, 1600-2000 (2010).

• Introduction (David Nash and Anne-Marie Kilday, Oxford Brookes University, UK)Section One – Criminality, State and Society1. The Uses of a Martyred Blasphemer's Death: The Execution of Thomas Aitkenhead, Scotland's Religion, the Enlightenment and Contemporary Activism (David Nash, Oxford Brookes University, UK)2. History, Narrative and attacking Chronocentricism in Understanding Financial Crime: The Significance of Micro-history (Sarah Wilson, University of York, UK)3. The Limits of Government Intervention: Caroline Wybrow and the Scandal of the Contagious Diseases Acts (Adrian Ager, Oxford Brookes University, UK)4. The Bonnie and Clyde of the Blackout: The Short Criminal Careers of Gustav Hulten and Elizabeth Jones (Clifford Williamson, Bath Spa University, UK)Section Two – Violence and the Violent5. Love, Vengeance and Vitriol: An Edwardian True-Crime Drama (Katherine D. Watson, Oxford Brookes University, UK)6. Constructing the Cult of the Criminal: Kate Webster - Victorian Murderess and Media Sensation (Anne-Marie Kilday, Oxford Brookes University, UK)Section Three - Police and Policing7. ‘Hand in Glove with the Penny-a-liners’: The Bow Street Runners in Narrative Fact and Fiction (David Cox, University of Wolverhampton, UK)8. Citizens' Complaints and Police (Un)accountability: The Career of a Parisian Commissaire de Police of the Belle Époque (Anja Johansen, University of Dundee, UK)9. Bobbies, Booze and Bagatelle: Policing Vice in Victorian London (Rachael Griffin, University of Western Ontario, Canada)Section Four – Prisoner Narratives and Confinement Stories10. ‘I am afraid she is perfectly responsible for her actions and is simply wicked’: Reconstructing the Criminal Career of Julia Hyland’ (Helen Johnston, University of Hull, UK, Barry Godfrey, University of Liverpool, UK and Jo Turner, University of Chester, UK)11. Making their Mark: Young Offenders' Life Histories and Social Networks (Helen Rogers, Liverpool John Moores University, UK)12. Reflections on the Chain Gang and Prison Narratives from the Southern United States (Vivien Miller, University of Nottingham, UK)13. ‘Nothing kept back, Nothing Exaggerated?’ Piety, Penology and Conflict: Joseph Kingsmill, Prison Chaplain (1842-60) (Neil Davie, University of Lyon, France)BibliographyIndex

One of the most impressive aspects of the collection is the clarity with which each author explains their own approach to microhistory and its value and contribution to broader historical debates. The methodological explanations and cohesive approach offered throughout is especially valuable, as the reader understands why this approach matters and what it adds to the topic analysed and to wider issues relating to the history of crime.