London's Soho district underwent a spectacular transformation between the late Victorian era and the end of the Second World War: its fin-de-siecle buildings and dark streets infamous for sex, crime, political disloyalty, and ethnic diversity became a centre of culinary and cultural tourism servicing patrons of nearby shops and theatres. Indulgences for the privileged and the upwardly mobile edged a dangerous, transgressive space imagined to be "outside" the nation.

Treating Soho as exceptional, but also representative of London's urban transformation, Judith Walkowitz shows how the area's foreignness, liminality, and porousness were key to the explosion of culture and development of modernity in the first half of the twentieth century. She draws on a vast and unusual range of sources to stitch together a rich patchwork quilt of vivid stories and unforgettable characters, revealing how Soho became a showcase for a new cosmopolitan identity.

Extract

Read an extract from Nights Out on Yale's blog

Judith Walkowitz is professor of history at Johns Hopkins University and the author of City of Dreadful Delight. She lives in New York.

"Nights Out pulsates with the syncopated rhythms of Soho." – Seth Koven, author of Slumming: Sexual and Social Politics in Victorian London

"As thought-provoking in its conclusions as it is colourful in its detail."—Michael Kerrigan, The Scotsman

"An entertaining study of early 20th century Soho… Walkowitz’s forte is the case study and the Soho recreation that reflects some wider trend. She is particularly astute on the importance of dancing both as a social activity and a source of female self-definition."—DJ Taylor, The Independent

"In Nights Out, she has produced an engrossing exploration of how a district that was not quite anywhere became a synonym for the multicultural city that is London today."—Judith Flanders, Sunday Telegraph 'Seven'

"This is an engaging and authoritative contribution to the history of the place we Londoners still cleave to as the cool heart of our capital."—Melanie McGrath, Evening Standard

"Perceptive and detailed."—Euan Ferguson, Time Out

"Walkowitz chronicles convincingly, disinterring obscure newspaper stories, skilfully using police reports, and amassing excellent material…Nights Out is the result of skilful, persevering research and conscientious thought: it marshals much recondite material to make a rewarding book. Walkowitz writes well…[a] lively, affable, thought-provoking book."—Richard Davenport-Hines, Times Literary Supplement

"A highly entertaining insight into one of the most popular areas of the metropolis."—Julie Peakman, Who Do You think You Are magazine?

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