The Five: The Lives of Jack the Ripper's Women (Rubenhold, February 2019)

[Howard Brown]

One of the sad byproducts of The Rube's appearances on programs and the publication of the book is the idea expressed by this woman that we think the victims deserved their fates.
The 'block list' comes first....and then its the therapy dogs for these shallow, weak, and vapid people.

[Robert Linford]

Why do I get the feeling that if the majority of Ripperologists believed that none of the victims were prostitutes, someone would have come along to accuse us of whitewashing the heartless LVP by turning a blind eye to the poverty and degradation these poor women had to endure, to the point where their only value was as pieces of meat to satisfy men's desires in an odious and patriarchal society? Thus they were forced to sell their bodies and, as a direct consequence, they met their horrific deaths.

[Anna Morris]

Why do I get the feeling that if the majority of Ripperologists believed that none of the victims were prostitutes, someone would have come along to accuse us of whitewashing the heartless LVP by turning a blind eye to the poverty and degradation these poor women had to endure, to the point where their only value was as pieces of meat to satisfy men's desires in an odious and patriarchal society? Thus they were forced to sell their bodies and, as a direct consequence, they met their horrific deaths.

Everything at this time is influenced by factions of the "grievance industry". Everything can and will be twisted and regurgitated to illustrate the agendas of whatever faction wants to make its points as loudly as possible. Such is the meat of history revisionism.

[R. J. Palmer]

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50471880

[Caroline Brown]

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50471880

"These were ordinary people, like you and I, who happened to fall upon hard times," said Rubenhold.

Have we just found the Maybrick diary hoaxer at last?

"These were gentle women born, much like I..."

Love,

Caz
X

[Edward Stow]

Another prize for Rubenhold and more gnashing of teeth will surely follow.
I find it impossible to muster any antipathy towards the author or the book.
Most 'Ripperological' books are full of distortion, invention and embellishment and have been since day one. That positions 5 firmly within mainstream Ripperology. The only difference, perhaps, is that Rubenhold has found it useful to publicly castigate and chastise Ripperologists. But that has been very good marketing - very canny of her.
As for 'Ripperology' as a field of study and bringing it to a wider audience - she has achieved that by the bucket load. Just as Russell Edwards did a few years back and well I remember the distaste with which many held him.
Remind me. What are the latest page view figures for this site?

[Jon Simons]

Fair play to her, I say
£50 grand .. . wow
She has spotted a new angle on the Ripper murders, pandering to the snowflakes, and if she has any sense she will take this m.o. and skip from literary project to literary project.
A small irony being that she is now a Ripperologist, whether she likes it or not.
Well played, girl !!

[Dusty Miller]

>>Fair play to her, I say<<

Money that should have gone to the Neal Sheldon Estate surely?

[Howard Brown]

50,000 smackers pays for a lot of assistance at abused women's shelters....even a fraction of it.

Unlike Cornwell, who didn't fly the flannel in people's faces every five seconds over abused women in a misogynistic society ( Her focus was on a suspect), Rube scarfed up the shekels writing about the victims.

[Jon Simons]

>>Fair play to her, I say<<

Money that should have gone to the Neal Sheldon Estate surely?

Why?
Honestly, I don`t know why you make this claim.
Has HR used his research ?

[Sam Flynn]

Why?
Honestly, I don`t know why you make this claim.
Has HR used his research ?

She did, and says so: "It was a great pleasure to be able to meet and exchange thoughts and research with Neal and Jennifer Shelden, who first ventured into the archives many years ago and began piecing together the basic information about the lives of the five women." References to Neal's books appear as endnotes/footnotes throughout The Five where appropriate.

I'd say that Neal's remarkable efforts have unearthed more than just "basic" information about their lives, and that some other ripperologists have made the occasional useful discovery. The Five adds some context to what had already been discovered about the victims, but some of that is highly speculative. Earlier authors (e.g. Sugden, Begg) provide similar contextual information in their books, and IMHO do a better job of it.

[Jon Simons]

She did, and says so: "It was a great pleasure to be able to meet and exchange thoughts and research with Neal and Jennifer Shelden, who first ventured into the archives many years ago and began piecing together the basic information about the lives of the five women." References to Neal's books appear as endnotes/footnotes throughout The Five where appropriate.

Great.
So why such hostility towards her ?

[Sam Flynn]

Great.
So why such hostility towards her ?

Perhaps it's because the author and publicists continue to make out that The Five is breaking new ground by providing information about the victims' lives - "why did we have to wait 130 years for their stories to be told?" etc. On the one hand, Hallie Rubenhold may have graciously (and sincerely) acknowledged Neal Shelden's research, but on the other she has done little or nothing to dispel the unfair perception that ripperology has ignored the victims' lives, and that she is the one who has put that right.

[Jon Simons]

Perhaps it's because the author and publicists continue to make out that The Five is breaking new ground by providing information about the victims' lives - "why did we have to wait 130 years for their stories to be told?" etc. On the one hand, Hallie Rubenhold may have graciously (and sincerely) acknowledged Neal Shelden's research, but on the other she has done little or nothing to dispel the unfair perception that ripperology has ignored the victims' lives, and that she is the one who has put that right.

Okay, fair enough.
I don`t input much, and I`ve not published anything on the subject so I cautiously submit that I think we could have handled things with a bit more grace.

[Gary Barnett]

Okay, fair enough.
I don`t input much, and I`ve not published anything on the subject so I cautiously submit that I think we could have handled things with a bit more grace.

Jon,

What would be a gracious response to this?



This is how it all kicked off because we had the temerity to question her claim that 3 of the victims were not prostitutes.