Punch and Judy Show: History, Tradition, and Meaning

The first ever comprehensive history of the English national puppet show. With a wealth of pictorial illustration and quotation taken from his own research, he draws out the many different strands - from abroad, from English popular culture, and from the contributions of Punchmen themselves - which combined to create the central Punch and Judy tradition. He relates in throughout to changing social and political conditions since the industrial revolution, showing, for example, its initial role as a popular response to an oppressive penal system (as in Punch's encounters with Hangman).