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Jack Sheppard, Prison-Breaker

Stuff You Missed in History Class

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The Rise of the Newgate Novels

In 18 39, william harrison ainsworth started serially publishing a romance called jack shepard in a publication called bentley's miscellany. It quickly became a best seller, even outselling charles dickinson's oliver twist. Jack shephard and oliver twist were both part of a newly flourishing genre that came to be known as newgate novels. These were books that were seen as glorifying criminals in a criminal underworld. Authorities mostly ignored or suppressed the chartist activity, which led to unrest, which was also quickly and sometimes violently suppressed.

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