THE JACK THE RIPPER BOOK

UNCOVERING JACK THE RIPPER'S LONDON

Uncovering Jack the Ripper's London tells the story of  the 3  months in 1888 when the Jack the Ripper murders sent shockwaves reverberating around civilised society.

Richard Jones begins this journey back to 1888 with a description of the dreadful social conditions that the men, women and children who lived in the area that became Jack the Ripper's hunting ground had to endure on a daily basis.

The book looks at the immigration of the early 1880's that coincided with a trade slump which in turn led to mass unemployment. Inevitably this led to accusations that the newly arrived immigrants were stealing "English Jobs" and thus caused a lot of racial unrest in the area. The consequence of this disharmony was that the indigenous population was quick to point the finger of blame at the immigrant community when the Jack the Ripper murders began.

The book then details the police officers who were given the almost impossible task of tracking a lone killer in one of London's most densely populated and crime-ridden quarters. The book also discusses the internal disagreements and conflicts between individual officers that hampered the police investigation into the killings.

With the scene set the book then looks at several attacks and murders that pre-dated those of the five generally acknowledged victims and discusses whether any of these could have been the early work of jack the Ripper.

The next chapters deal day by day with the accepted murders of Jack the Ripper. It paints a vivid picture of the dreadful conditions in which the victims lived; details how the murders were used by philanthropists to effect social change in the area and explains how newspapers went out of their way to bring as much salacious detail as they could to their readers, thus making the Jack the Ripper murders famous all over the world.

Lavishly illustrated throughout with 19th century photographs showing the streets and murder sites as they were in 1888, and specially commissioned photographs that show those same sites today Uncovering jack the Ripper's London really does provide a vivid insight into that long ago autumn when a lone figure stalking the shadows of Whitechapel terrorised the whole of Victorian society.