This work investigates the intersection of gender, class, and consumerism by examining the phenomenon of kleptomania among middle-class women in Victorian department stores. Elaine S. Abelson, a historian specializing in gender and social history, utilizes archival records, legal documents, and contemporary medical literature to analyze how the rise of the department store created new opportunities for theft. She argues that the diagnosis of kleptomania served as a social construct to manage the anxieties surrounding female autonomy and the changing nature of public consumption during the late nineteenth century.

Reader & Expert Consensus: Scholars of Victorian social history recognize this text as a foundational analysis of the relationship between gendered consumption and criminalization. Readers frequently note the academic rigor of the research and the clarity with which Abelson connects individual acts of theft to broader societal shifts.