{"product_id":"2026200015899-secondhand-poverty-and-prostitution-a-study-of-victorian-prostitutes-in-york","title":"Poverty And Prostitution: A Study Of Victorian Prostitutes In York","description":"\u003cp\u003eEdition: First ed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: Worn\/faded, no tears\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the gaslit backstreets and workhouses of Victorian York, a hidden world of female desperation and survival played out far from polite society's gaze — and Frances Finnegan's meticulously researched study brings this world into unflinching focus. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources including police records, hospital registers, and institutional archives, Poverty and Prostitution: A Study of Victorian Prostitutes in York chronicles the lives of women who turned to sex work not out of moral failure, but out of economic necessity, illuminating the stark social forces — poverty, domestic violence, and the collapse of family structures — that drove them to the streets of one of England's most historic cities.\n\nFinnegan argues with quiet but devastating authority that prostitution in Victorian England was inseparable from the broader machinery of poverty, challenging the moralising narratives that dominated contemporary discourse and much subsequent historiography. Her prose is precise and compassionate, grounding large social questions in the granular, human detail of individual lives recovered from obscurity. A landmark work in both Victorian social history and gender studies, this volume remains essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the underside of the nineteenth century's vaunted progress — and leaves the reader asking how much, if anything, has truly changed.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49203266912475,"sku":"2026200015899-SECONDHAND","price":60.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/de0e9b20-4ebe-4356-9359-3f10642491a6.png?v=1788146995","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200015899-secondhand-poverty-and-prostitution-a-study-of-victorian-prostitutes-in-york","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}