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Author Archives: Anthony Vaver

Anthony Vaver has broad expertise in the social and cultural history of crime and punishment. He holds a Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and an M.L.S. from Rutgers University.

The American Malefactor’s Dictionary: bower

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

bower – a prison. Sources Farmer, John S. and W. E. Henley. A Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English. Abridged from Slang and Its Analogues. London: George Routledge and Sons, 1912. Matsell, George W. Vocabulum: Or, the Rogue’s Lexicon.. New York: George W. Matsell, 1859. Partridge, Eric. A Dictionary of the Underworld. New York: Bonanza […]

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Early American Criminals: Joseph Andrews in the News

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

As soon as Joseph Andrews read the newspaper article in the St. Christopher’s Gazette, which reproduced the deposition William Harris gave to the authorities, he knew he had to leave the Caribbean island of St. Eustatia immediately. The decision was a wise one, because as soon as Governor John De Windt read the same story […]

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The American Malefactor’s Dictionary: boot-leg and boot-leg plan

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

boot-leg – 1. coffee or, more precisely, alleged coffee, served in prison; 2. illicit liquor (a witty play on the former definition). boot-leg plan – a set up based on trickery or evasion, in reference to the saying, “the boot is on the other leg,” i.e., not as someone would normally understand something. Use of […]

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Early American Criminals: The Last Stand of Edward Teach, a.k.a. Blackbeard

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

The merchants and planters in and around Bath, North Carolina had had enough of Edward Teach, a.k.a. Blackbeard. The pirate had been living–and carousing–in town, and had been pillaging ships up and down the inlets and rivers of the colony. But the citizens knew that they could not complain to Governor Charles Eden of North […]

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EAC Podcast: Writing Bound with an Iron Chain

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

In this podcast, I talk about how I came up with the idea of writing my new book, Bound with an Iron Chain, and about my experience writing it. Book Update My book is slowly beginning to populate the various booksellers across the Web. Here is a list of websites from around the world where […]

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