{"product_id":"9781868426225","title":"Showdown at the Red Lion","description":"\u003cp\u003eShowdown at the Red Lion (The Life and Time of Jack McLoughlin)  \u003cbr\u003e“This enthralling saga of crime, passion, and betrayal is a compelling portrait of one of empire’s great, unsung anti-heroes. The book is a scintillating achievement.’ — Jean Comaroff, Harvard University\u003cbr\u003eJohannesburg was — and is — the Frontier of Money. Within months of its founding, the mining camp was host to organised crime: the African ‘Regiment of the Hills’ and ‘Irish Brigade’ bandits. Bars, brothels, boarding houses, and hotels oozed testosterone and violence, and the use of fists and guns was commonplace.\u003cbr\u003eBeyond the chaos were clear signs of another struggle — one to maintain control, honour, and order within the emerging male- and mining-dominated culture. In the underworld, the dictum of ‘honour among thieves’, as well as a hatred of informers, testified to attempts at self-regulation. A ‘real man’ did not take advantage of an opponent by employing underhanded tactics. It had to be a ‘fair fight’ if a man was to be respected.\u003cbr\u003eThis was the world that ‘One-armed Jack’ McLoughlin — brigand, soldier, sailor, mercenary, burglar, highwayman, and safe-cracker — entered in the early 1890s to become Johannesburg’s most infamous ‘Irish’ anti-hero and social bandit.\u003cbr\u003eMcLoughlin’s infatuation with George Stevenson prompted him to recruit the young Englishman into his gang of safe-crackers, but ‘Stevo’ was a man with a past and primed for personal and professional betrayal. It was a deadly mixture. Honour could only be retrieved through a Showdown at the Red Lion.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"book-contributors\"\u003e\n  \u003cp class=\"contributor-item\"\u003e\n    \u003cspan class=\"contributor-role\"\u003eAuthor\u003c\/span\u003e\n    \u003ca href=\"\/search?q=Author+Charles+Van+Onselen\" class=\"contributor-link\"\u003eCharles Van Onselen\u003c\/a\u003e\n  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Charles Van Onselen","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47378736021667,"sku":"9781868426225","price":320.0,"currency_code":"ZAR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0741\/7836\/3555\/files\/9781868426225_b4fc471f-296a-4c18-a811-dc226a966e20.jpg?v=1780014693","url":"https:\/\/graffitibooks.co.za\/products\/9781868426225","provider":"Graffiti Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}