Abstract

Pike's History of Crime in England

The article focuses on Luke Owen Pike's book "A History of Crime in England." The author has been fortunate in his choice of a subject. He has spared no labor in gathering his materials from all authentic sources, published and unpublished, and in these days of book-making he deserves unstinted praise for the rigorous honesty with which he confines himself to original investigation from contemporary authorities. Pike has done himself injustice in the selection of a title. His work is far more than a mere history of crime, for though the evil deeds of ancestors form the staple of the text, it contains a vast amount of curious and novel information respecting their habits and modes of thought, their customs and social institutions, their pursuits and industries, which affords a most welcome insight into the inner life of the Middle Ages.