The Cleveland Street Affair
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Good
In the heart of Victorian London, a scandal of breathtaking proportions threatened to bring down the establishment: a male brothel at 19 Cleveland Street, frequented by telegraph boys and — whisper it — members of the aristocracy, possibly even royalty. The Cleveland Street Affair chronicles the explosive 1889 scandal that rocked British society, tracing the desperate attempts by powerful men to suppress the truth, silence witnesses, and shield the privileged from the law that was swiftly applied to the poor. The authors reconstruct the affair with the rigour of seasoned investigative journalists, drawing on court records, police files, and contemporary accounts to expose a web of corruption, cover-up, and class privilege at the very heart of the British Empire. This work stands as a landmark in investigative historical writing, unmasking the hypocrisy of an era that preached morality while practising deceit at the highest levels of government and society. Colin Simpson, Lewis Chester, and David Leitch — acclaimed for their work on the Sunday Times Insight team — bring their forensic, unflinching style to a story that resonates far beyond its Victorian setting, raising timeless questions about justice, power, and who the law is truly designed to protect. For anyone who believes the establishment always wins, this account may give them cause to think again.
Author: Colin Simpson, Lewis Chester & David Leitch
Format: Hardback
Published: 1976, Little, Brown and Company, Boston
Genre: True crime
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Good
In the heart of Victorian London, a scandal of breathtaking proportions threatened to bring down the establishment: a male brothel at 19 Cleveland Street, frequented by telegraph boys and — whisper it — members of the aristocracy, possibly even royalty. The Cleveland Street Affair chronicles the explosive 1889 scandal that rocked British society, tracing the desperate attempts by powerful men to suppress the truth, silence witnesses, and shield the privileged from the law that was swiftly applied to the poor. The authors reconstruct the affair with the rigour of seasoned investigative journalists, drawing on court records, police files, and contemporary accounts to expose a web of corruption, cover-up, and class privilege at the very heart of the British Empire. This work stands as a landmark in investigative historical writing, unmasking the hypocrisy of an era that preached morality while practising deceit at the highest levels of government and society. Colin Simpson, Lewis Chester, and David Leitch — acclaimed for their work on the Sunday Times Insight team — bring their forensic, unflinching style to a story that resonates far beyond its Victorian setting, raising timeless questions about justice, power, and who the law is truly designed to protect. For anyone who believes the establishment always wins, this account may give them cause to think again.