Stand and Deliver : Highwaymen from Robin Hood to Dick Turpin [first edition]

This book is the amazing story of Robin Hood, Dick Turpin, Sixteen String Jack, Jonathan Wild, and the many other highwaymen of English history. Most books on the subject are either fiercely judgmental or romanticize the highwayman to such a point that he is no longer recognizable as a human being. By relying on first hand contemporary sources, Patrick Pringle manages to avoid both of those traps. He not only renders reliable portraits of the men who lived on the fringes of society, but an absolutely convincing reflection of the Age of the Highwaymen. Pringle gives us the men as they lived, breathed, rode, charmed the ladies, and, oh yes, stole.