Street gangs and violence in Glasgow in the 1920s and 1930s

During the 1930s Glasgow acquired a reputation throughout Britain as a hotbed of gang violence.

Contemporary depictions of Glasgow borrowed freely from images of "the gangster" derived from the USA and Hollywood-produced gangster movies, which were massively popular in Britain, provided templates for journalists and aspiring gang members alike. The city's notoriety was sealed by the publication of the novel "No Mean City", the story of a Gorbals gang leader and "razor king" in October 1935.

This made a massive, immediate and lasting impact, cementing the name of Glasgow as a byword for violence. This book offers a thorough social history of the infamous street gangs of Glasgow in the 1920s and '30s.

The author draws on extensive research to explore the realities behind Glasgow's emerging reputation as the most violent city in Britain, the "Scottish Chicago".