The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper

Choose another book written entirely about the Jack the Ripper murders. In what ways are the texts different or similar in how they describe and discuss the five canonical victims?

Throughout The Five, Rubenhold draws on primary sources. Choose three primary sources quoted in the text. What purpose do these primary sources serve? How does Rubenhold employ primary sources to challenge the traditional Jack the Ripper narrative?

Analyze how the text explores poverty and the class system in Victorian Britain. How do the lives of the five women illuminate wider issues concerning class, social mobility (or lack thereof), and/or class stereotypes in Victorian England?

How does Rubenhold explore Victorian attitudes surrounding sexuality and women’s roles in the text? Why does she repeatedly clarify that not all of the “canonical” victims were sex workers?

What parallels can be drawn across the lives of all five women? In what ways are they different from one another? What effect, if any, does learning about all five women in tandem have on our understanding of the lives of these women?

How does Rubenhold’s narrative humanize the five women? Discuss specific examples of how she does so. In what ways, if any, do these biographies of the five women change your views of the victims and their lives?

Closely analyze some of the media myths and story approaches common in the Victorian press coverage of the Ripper crimes. What myths and approaches persist today in contemporary media coverage about violent crimes against women?

The Five is a work of microhistory (See: Background). Compare and contrast The Five to another work of microhistory. What techniques and approaches do the two works have in common? In what ways are they similar or different in terms of focus and/or the author’s stated goals?