Secret Commissions: An Anthology of Victorian Investigative Journalism

Secret Commissions brings together nineteen key documents of Victorian investigative journalism. Collectively, they show how unsparing descriptions of social injustice became regular features of English journalism long before the advent of American-style muckraking. The reports address topics as varied as child abuse, animal cruelty, juvenile prostitution, sweat shops, slums, gypsies, abortion, infanticide, and other controversial social issues.