Secret Commissions : Broadview Press : 9781551113302 : 1551113309 : 30 Sep 2012 : Lurid, controversial, and vulnerable to accusations of titillation or rabble-rousing, the works of Victorian investigative journalism collected here nonetheless brought unseen suffering into the light of day. Even today their exposure has the power to shock. As one investigator promised, ?The Report of our Secret Commission will be read to-day with a shuddering horror that will thrill throughout the world.? Secret Commissions brings together nineteen key documents of Victorian investigative journalism. Their authors range from well-known writers such as Charles Dickens, Henry Mayhew, and W.T. Stead to now-forgotten names such as Hugh Shimmin, Elizabeth Banks, and Olive Malvery. 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, anima