'A tonic and rousing critique of the bad freight carried by the concept of "slum". Although an obvious offender in my own work, I'm entirely convinced by Mayne's passionate polemic. No more "s" word from me.' - Mike Davis, author of Planet of Slums; 'Mayne lacerates ... [the] war on the poor, with sweeping historical critique, instead demonstrating how the logics and policies that keep the "poor" unsettled, simultaneously pacified and volatile, constitute a deception, covering over the distorted productivity of inequality, spatial engineering, and the reliance upon those consigned to the margins to regenerate new forms of sociality in face of denigration.' - Professor AbdouMaliq Simone, Goldsmiths, University of London; 'Alan Mayne is a leading authority on the history of "slums". In his new book he turns his attention to the repetitions and continuities in society's attitudes and policies towards "slums" worldwide over the past 200 years, from 19th-century Britain to 21st-century Global South. His challenging, forthright book exposes how our continued use of the word "slum" is misleading, deceitful and downright wrong.' - Professor Richard Dennis, University College London

Alan Mayne is Visiting Professor in the Centre for Urban History at the University of Leicester and Adjunct Professor at the University of South Australia. His previous books include The Imagined Slum: Newspaper Representation in Three Cities, 1870-1914 (1993).