Publisher's Synopsis
Peter Linebaugh's groundbreaking history has become an inescapable part of any understanding of the rise of capitalism. In eighteenth-century London the spectacle of a hanging served the purpose of forcing the poor population of London to accept the criminalization of customary rights and new forms of private property. In this new edition Peter Linebaugh reinforces his original arguments with detailed responses to his critics based on an impressive array of historical sources.
