Illustration from London Labour and the London Poor

1,855 words

I hated being wicked, but I was tricked and cheated. I am truly sorry for it, but what could a poor girl do? — Henry Mayhew, interview with a street beggar, London Labour and the London Poor

But what can a poor boy do? — The Rolling Stones, “Street Fighting Man”

History has always troubled me. I don’t mean the grand Hegelian sweep of the past; that would be enough to trouble anyone. I mean the fact that I know so little about it. Not the kings and queens of England and the Ottoman Empire and the battles, but the minutiae — the lives of the little people.