Product Description
Gilded Age cities offered extraordinary opportunities to women--but at a price. As clerks, factory hands, and professionals flocked downtown to earn a living, they alarmed social critics and city fathers, who warned that self-supporting women were just steps away from becoming prostitutes. With in-depth research possible only in a mid-sized city, Sharon E. Wood focuses on Davenport, Iowa, to explore the lives of working women and the prostitutes who shared their neighborhoods.

The single, self-supporting women who migrated to Davenport in the years following the Civil War saw paid labor as the foundation of citizenship. They took up the tools of public and political life to assert the respectability of paid employment and to confront the demon of prostitution. Wood offers cradle-to-grave portraits of individual girls and women--both prostitutes and "respectable" white workers--seeking to reshape their city and expand women's opportunities. As Wood demonstrates, however, their efforts to rewrite the sexual politics of the streets met powerful resistance at every turn from men defending their political rights and sexual power. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Absorbing and Provocative
This opened my eyes to women's status in the Gilded Age in a typical good-sized Midwestern town.I couldn't put it down.

Revelations about Davenport in the Gilded Age
My godson is taking his orals for his PhD, and as a requirement, was told to read this, among 100 other assigned books. As he knew I was a Davenport native, he thought I might enjoy reading this.As a female, I found it especially fascinating as it deals mostly with the status of women, both prostitutes and women who owned small businesses, worked as clerks and in other professions, in the Gilded Age.I had no idea that prostition was once legalized in Davenport and such establishements were licensed.I also was surprised to learn how the German influence led to widespread flauting of Prohibition.I had gone to the Lend-A-Hand club as a small girl after school, and reading the history of that venerable institution was really heartening.My grandfather ran a Shell Service station at the base of the Government Bridge and it was amazing to read how that area was a hotbed of vice from 1880-1920.

I bought this book for my mother, who grew up in Davenport, and who is now 90.She knew many of the names in the book, attended school with one of the girls, and was amazed to hear all this come to life.Many of the facts and stories were told her by HER mother, and she was taken back in time when these stories were confirmed.She is now busily engaged in digesting the book.


But the book is better than simply a Davenport history snapshot.As a woman, I was disheartened in the extreme to read of the cruelty practiced on young girls, as young as 11 who were forced into prostitution after having been raped.The Good Shepherd Home in Dubuque proved a godsend for many of the unfortunate girls.They were given a new life and dignity.It left me with new respect for the work of the Catholic Church in restoring people's lives.


This book gave me a view of middle America that caught me off guard.I hope this book gains wide currency, as it deserves it. ... Read more

Product Description
American newspapers redefined journalism after the Civil War by breaking away from the editorial and financial control of the Democratic and Republican parties. Smythe chronicles the rise of the New Journalism, where pegging newspaper sales to market forces was the cost of editorial independence. Successful papers in post-bellum America thrived by catering to a mass audience, which increased their circulations and raised their advertising revenues. Still active politically, independent editors now sought to influence their readers' opinions themselves rather than serve as conduits for the party line. ... Read more

Product Description
The secret double life of the man who mapped the American West, and the woman he loved

Clarence King was a late nineteenth-century celebrity, a brilliant scientist and explorer once described by Secretary of State John Hay as "the best and brightest of his generation." But King hid a secret from his Gilded Age cohorts and prominent family in Newport: for thirteen years he lived a double life-the first as the prominent white geologist and writer Clarence King, and a second as the black Pullman porter and steelworker named James Todd. The fair, blue-eyed son of a wealthy China trader passed across the color line, revealing his secret to his black common-law wife, Ada Copeland, only on his deathbed. In Passing Strange, noted historian Martha A. Sandweiss tells the dramatic, distinctively American tale of a family built along the fault lines of celebrity, class, and race- a story that spans the long century from Civil War to civil rights.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (33)

Fascinating yet slow read
This historical look at a tumultuous time in the U.S. shares a fascinating story of a prominent white man leading a double life.The detail is overwhelming - the author obviously took painstaking time researching this unique story.Though very well written it is a slow read.If you are looking for a poolside or beach captivating story - pass on this one.Ifyou are interested in all of the cultural, societal, and historical nuances of the U.S. during reconstruction and the decades after then this non-fiction novel is worth devouring.

Very interesting!
An impressive piece of historical research, combined with knowledgeable insight by the author. A fascinating look into our history, with continuing relevance on our present culture.

A Riveting Narrative
Whites passing as black is not as common an occurrence as the reverse. But it has occurred at various times through history and for a variety of reasons--ranging from political statement to eccentricity or a mere lark.

Clarence King wasn't making an obvious political statement or exercising a lark. A respected geologist and U.S. government official, King appears to have acted from a motive of love. In what had to be a difficult and stressful effort, he moved somewhat successfully for a long period of time in two vastly different worlds.

In one he was a debonair member of a privileged white class, the provider and protector of a widowed mother and other family, and the cohort of Henry Adams, a descendant of presidents, and Secretary of State John Hay. In the other, an African-American James Todd, a Pullman porter, the husband of Ada Copeland, a former slave from Georgia, and the father of their five children.

Philosophically, King believed America should abolish the concept of race. In an 1885 article in the North American Review he wrote, "when the composite elements of American populations are melted down into one race alloy, when there are no more Irish or Germans, Negroes and English, but only Americans, belonging to one defined American race," could there be a true and distinctive form of cultural expression.

Unfortunately, society was not ready for such an amalgamation and he was unable to live up to his own ideal. He may have loved Ada. But not enough to risk his position in the white world and the opinion of his family and friends. He didn't reveal his deception to Ada until he was near death. He assured her he was leaving a trust to support her and the children.Rather than giving her full details, he left the matter in the hands of white friends and she eventually had to go to court to ascertain her rights.

Ada lost that lengthy court battle and was depicted by the press and representatives of King's friends as a "black mammy" trying to take advantage of a wealthy white man. Still, she lived out her long life in dignity, surrounded by family and certain of King's love for her.

Sandweiss has written an important and moving book which inspires the hope one day we might move above the minor differences which separate us, amalgamating even beyond King's ideal to a truly "human race."

Fascinating
This is an amazing story and even more so because it is true. I highly recommend this book.

Review of "Passing Strange"
Heard about this book on NPR on radio. It is biographical about Clarence King of whom one of the Sierra mountains is named. It's about his 13 years as a white person who passes as "a man of color" in order to marry a black in New York City in the 1800's and how he pulled it off. Very good writing. ... Read more

Product Description
The Gilded Age Roots of American Homophobia is an analysis of the negative response to the discovery of the homosexual in late 19th century America. This book investigates the responses of the emergent medical community to this problem, and concludes with a discussion of how the negative reception of the homosexual impacted the future social conception of gay men and women.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Gilded Age medical invention of the Homosexual Identity
Hathaway's short, and far too expensive, book is billed as a look at the origins of homophobia in America.However, the real focus of the book is far more narrow, the invention of the idea of a homosexual identity by the late nineteenth century medical community.

Hathaway begins with an overview of 19th century social change and specifically, developments in the medical profession.This information will be familiar to many readers, but it is relevent to the author's argument that the new view of same sex attraction and sexual acts was based on an interpretation of the radical changes ongoing in the culture as a whole.

The heart of the book is a discussion of the views of late 19th century medical and psychiatrical professionals toward same sex (or inverted as they called it) attraction.As Hathaway notes these men continued the age old view that same sex attraction was fundimentally wrong, and many kept with the view that it was a matter of sin and vice.However, a growing and influental group argued that inverted attraction was biological in origin and outside the will of the individual.This was the begining of the idea that homosexuality was a distinct identity, not simply a set of sinful acts.This biological origin group still believed homosexuality was wrong and elaborated complex theories of the degeneration of modern society which had lead to the creation of degenerate, sexually inverted individuals.

The problem is what to make of this elite debate over the nature of homosexuality.How much did these ideas really impact the broader society?Hathaway gives us some evidence that the biological origin group was influetial in trial law and that some of the newly forming gay communities ridiculed the patholigizing of their desires, but the question of impact is never fully explored.

Hathaway's approach strikes me as similar to trying to understand racism by looking exclusively at antibellum "scientific" race theories.I view these race theories as more of an attempt to justify and rationalize pre-existing racist acts and beliefs than as a source of racism themselves.A smilar case could be made about the theories of homosexuality that Hathaway disects.

Revulsion at homosexual behavior has been passed on at all levels of society for ages, with or without scientific theories to justify it.The underlying and unanswered question is, what role does the proscription of same sex desire and love play in our society?

Although Hathaway does not answer this question he does draw one novel connection worthy of note.In the 1970s, gay rights advocates adopted a civil rights stratagy for their struggle, identifying themselves as an oppressed group much like people of color and women.This argument is predicated on the idea that homosexuality is a biological identity.But Hathaway has shown us that 100 years earlier this idea of an homosexual identity had been developed not to celebrate the naturalness of homosexuality, but rather to cure society of what was viewed as the most profound symptom of social sickness and degeneracy. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was not written for private circulation among friends; it was not written to cheer and instruct a diseased relative of the author's; it was not thrown off during intervals of wearing labor to amuse an idle hour. It was not written for any of these reasons, and therefore it is submitted without the usual apologies.

It will be seen that it deals with an entirely ideal state of society; and the chief embarrassment of the writers in this realm of the imagination has been the want of illustrative examples. In a State where there is no fever of speculation, no inflamed desire for sudden wealth, where the poor are all simple-minded and contented, and the rich are all honest and generous, where society is in a condition of primitive purity and politics is the occupation of only the capable and the patriotic, there are necessarily no materials for such a history as we have constructed out of an ideal commonwealth.

No apology is needed for following the learned custom of placing attractive scraps of literature at the heads of our chapters. It has been truly observed by Wagner that such headings, with their vague suggestions of the matter which is to follow them, pleasantly inflame the reader's interest without wholly satisfying his curiosity, and we will hope that it may be found to be so in the present case.

Our quotations are set in a vast number of tongues; this is done for the reason that very few foreign nations among whom the book will circulate can read in any language but their own; whereas we do not write for a particular class or sect or nation, but to take in the whole world.

We do not object to criticism; and we do not expect that the critic will read the book before writing a notice of it: We do not even expect the reviewer of the book will say that he has not read it. No, we have no anticipations of anything unusual in this age of criticism. But if the Jupiter, Who passes his opinion on the novel, ever happens to peruse it in some weary moment of his subsequent life, we hope that he will not be the victim of a remorse bitter but too late.


Download The Gilded Age Now! ... Read more

Product Description
A gripping and inspiring book, Civic Passionsexamines innovative leadership in periods of crisis in American history. Starting from the late nineteenth century, when respected voices warned that America was on the brink of collapse, Cecelia Tichi explores the wisdom of practical visionaries who were confronted with a series of social, political, and financial upheavals that, in certain respects, seem eerily similar to modern times. The United States--then, as now--was riddled with political corruption, financial panics, social disruption, labor strife, and bourgeois inertia.

Drawing on a wealth of evocative personal accounts, biographies, and archival material, Tichi brings seven iconoclastic--and often overlooked--individuals from the Gilded Age back to life. We meet physician Alice Hamilton, theologian Walter Rauschenbusch, jurist Louis D. Brandeis, consumer advocate Florence Kelley, antilynching activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett, economist John R. Commons, and child-welfare advocate Julia Lathrop. Bucking the status quo of the Gilded Age as well as middle-class complacency, these reformers tirelessly garnered popular support as they championed progressive solutions to seemingly intractable social problems.

Civic Passions is a provocative and powerfully written social history, a collection of minibiographies, and a user's manual on how a generation of social reformers can turn peril into progress with fresh, workable ideas. Together, these narratives of advocacy provide a stunning precedent of progressive action and show how citizen-activists can engage the problems of the age in imaginative ways. While offering useful models to encourage the nation in a newly progressive direction, Civic Passions reminds us that one determined individual can make a difference. ... Read more

Product Description
An excerpt from the book -

June 18--.Squire Hawkins sat upon the pyramid of large blocks, called
the "stile," in front of his house, contemplating the morning.

The locality was Obedstown, East Tennessee.You would not know that
Obedstown stood on the top of a mountain, for there was nothing about the
landscape to indicate it--but it did: a mountain that stretched abroad
over whole counties, and rose very gradually.The district was called
the "Knobs of East Tennessee," and had a reputation like Nazareth, as far
as turning out any good thing was concerned.

The Squire's house was a double log cabin, in a state of decay; two or
three gaunt hounds lay asleep about the threshold, and lifted their heads
sadly whenever Mrs. Hawkins or the children stepped in and out over their
bodies.Rubbish was scattered about the grassless yard; a bench stood
near the door with a tin wash basin on it and a pail of water and a
gourd; a cat had begun to drink from the pail, but the exertion was
overtaxing her energies, and she had stopped to rest.There was an
ash-hopper by the fence, and an iron pot, for soft-soap-boiling, near it.
... Read more

Product Description
An excerpt from the book -

Whatever may have been the language of Harry's letter to the Colonel,
the information it conveyed was condensed or expanded, one or the other,
from the following episode of his visit to New York:

He called, with official importance in his mien, at No.-- Wall street,
where a great gilt sign betokened the presence of the head-quarters of
the "Columbus River Slack-Water Navigation Company."He entered and
gave a dressy porter his card, and was requested to wait a moment in a
sort of ante-room.The porter returned in a minute; and asked whom he
would like to see?

"The president of the company, of course."

"He is busy with some gentlemen, sir; says he will be done with them
directly."

That a copper-plate card with "Engineer-in-Chief" on it should be
received with such tranquility as this, annoyed Mr. Brierly not a little.
But he had to submit.Indeed his annoyance had time to augment a good
deal; for he was allowed to cool his heels a frill half hour in the
ante-room before those gentlemen emerged and he was ushered into the
presence. He found a stately dignitary occupying a very official chair
behind a long green morocco-covered table, in a room with sumptuously
carpeted and furnished, and well garnished with pictures.

"Good morning, sir; take a seat--take a seat."

... Read more

Product Description
An excerpt from the book -

That Chairman was nowhere in sight.Such disappointments seldom occur in
novels, but are always happening in real life.

She was obliged to make a new plan.She sent him a note, and asked him
to call in the evening--which he did.

She received the Hon. Mr. Buckstone with a sunny smile, and said:

"I don't know how I ever dared to send you a note, Mr. Buckstone, for you
have the reputation of not being very partial to our sex."

"Why I am sure my, reputation does me wrong, then, Miss Hawkins.I have
been married once--is that nothing in my favor?"

"Oh, yes--that is, it may be and it may not be.If you have known what
perfection is in woman, it is fair to argue that inferiority cannot
interest you now."

"Even if that were the case it could not affect you, Miss Hawkins," said
the chairman gallantly."Fame does not place you in the list of ladies
who rank below perfection."This happy speech delighted Mr. Buckstone as
much as it seemed to delight Laura.But it did not confuse him as much
as it apparently did her.
... Read more

Product Description
An excerpt from the book -

June 18--.Squire Hawkins sat upon the pyramid of large blocks, called
the "stile," in front of his house, contemplating the morning.

The locality was Obedstown, East Tennessee.You would not know that
Obedstown stood on the top of a mountain, for there was nothing about the
landscape to indicate it--but it did: a mountain that stretched abroad
over whole counties, and rose very gradually.The district was called
the "Knobs of East Tennessee," and had a reputation like Nazareth, as far
as turning out any good thing was concerned.

The Squire's house was a double log cabin, in a state of decay; two or
three gaunt hounds lay asleep about the threshold, and lifted their heads
sadly whenever Mrs. Hawkins or the children stepped in and out over their
bodies.Rubbish was scattered about the grassless yard; a bench stood
near the door with a tin wash basin on it and a pail of water and a
gourd; a cat had begun to drink from the pail, but the exertion was
overtaxing her energies, and she had stopped to rest.There was an
ash-hopper by the fence, and an iron pot, for soft-soap-boiling, near it.
... Read more

Product Description
An excerpt from the book -

Henry Brierly took the stand.Requested by the District Attorney to tell
the jury all he knew about the killing, he narrated the circumstances
substantially as the reader already knows them.

He accompanied Miss Hawkins to New York at her request, supposing she was
coming in relation to a bill then pending in Congress, to secure the
attendance of absent members.Her note to him was here shown.She
appeared to be very much excited at the Washington station.After she
had asked the conductor several questions, he heard her say, "He can't
escape."Witness asked her "Who?" and she replied "Nobody."Did not see
her during the night.They traveled in a sleeping car.In the morning
she appeared not to have slept, said she had a headache.In crossing the
ferry she asked him about the shipping in sight; he pointed out where the
Cunarders lay when in port.They took a cup of coffee that morning at a
restaurant.
... Read more

Product Description
An excerpt from the book -

Only two or three days had elapsed since the funeral, when something
happened which was to change the drift of Laura's life somewhat, and
influence in a greater or lesser degree the formation of her character.

Major Lackland had once been a man of note in the State--a man of
extraordinary natural ability and as extraordinary learning.He had been
universally trusted and honored in his day, but had finally, fallen into
misfortune; while serving his third term in Congress, and while upon the
point of being elevated to the Senate--which was considered the summit of
earthly aggrandizement in those days--he had yielded to temptation, when
in distress for money wherewith to save his estate; and sold his vote.
His crime was discovered, and his fall followed instantly.Nothing could
reinstate him in the confidence of the people, his ruin was
irretrievable--his disgrace complete.All doors were closed against him,
all men avoided him.After years of skulking retirement and dissipation,
death had relieved him of his troubles at last, and his funeral followed
close upon that of Mr. Hawkins. ... Read more

Product Description
With the introduction of new production methods and technological innovation, tradesmen and workers encountered new challenges. This study examines the development of trade unions as a manifestation of working class experience in late Gilded Age America. It underscores both the distinctive and the common features of trade unionism across four occupations: building tradesmen, cigar makers, garment workers, and printers. While reactions differed, the unions representing these workers displayed a convergence in their strategic orientation, programmatic emphasis and organizational modus operandi. As such, they were not disparate organizations, concerned only with sectional interests, but participants in an organizational-network in which cooperation and solidarity became benchmarks for the labor movement. ... Read more

Product Description
Recounts the sensational 1896 murder trial of Mary Alice Livingston, who was accused of murdering her mother with an arsenic-laced pail of clam chowder and faced the possibility of becoming the first woman to be executed in New York's new-fangled electric chair. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Fascinating true crime about a Gilded Age poisoner
Arsenic and Clam Chowder by James D. Livingston is a fascinating look at murder in Gilded Age New York. Mary Alice Livingston (a distant cousin of the author) was arrested in 1895 for sending her ten-year-old daughter Grace to deliver an pail of arsenic laced clam chowder to her mother Evelina Bliss in order to gain access to her inheritance. As Evelina suffered a grotesque and painful death, she informed the doctor that she was poisoned by a relative for money. The ensuing investigation andtrial would put capital punishment for women and reasonable doubt on trial for the world to see, while competing newspapers the World and Journalwrote eloquent stories about her four illegitimate children from three different fathers. The author lays the case against Mary Alice well and captures the heightened tensions in New York City that surrounded the trial. These were the days that were filled with "trials of the century" when female poisoners haunted Victorian imaginations. I love true crime books based in this period, and this book is thoroughly enjoyable and interesting. The author finishes up with a discussion on how reasonable doubt affected this trial and how it works today. My only quibble would be that in one of the pictures included in the center of the book, the author gives away the outcome of the trial. That's a small complaint however. The images included truly help the reader to see the main characters more clearly, and the historical details he adds also bring this era to life. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Arsenic and Clam Chowder
In the summer of 1895, on a labor day weekend and in Manhattan, NY where Evelina lived at 397 St. Nicholas Ave. in a upper Manhattan apartment on the fifth floor. Evelina was fifty-three and the stairs had started to be too much for her. She lived her with her younger daughter Florence and a son Henry.


This book is about the murder of Evelina Bliss, where they had fond arsenic in her blood after her death. She had been to visit her daughter, Mary Ellen Livingston, and then came home, Later Mary Ellen sent her daughter and a friend with a pail of clam chowder to Evelina which she ate for her dinner.

The murder was based on the clam chowder and the daughter who was arrested. This complete book is the trial of Mary Alice Livingston, the life of her mother Evelina Bliss.


My Thoughts:
This book had a great start but unless you are really into the lawyers and trials it is a hard read. The author did a great job of writing the book and the telling of the story.


This book was sent to me by James D. Livingston the author andPump Up Your Book for Review.

Lots of detailed history throughout the book
"Arsenic and Clam Chowder" recounts the life of Mary Alice Livingston. Born into a prestigious family, she is accused of murdering her mother, Evelina Bliss, for her inheritance. Mary Alice was a women obsessed with having money; she had been in and out of the courts before, trying to extort money from the fathers of her children. Never married, she had 3 children and a forth on the way. This was the problem between her and her mother. Women did not just have illegitimate children at that time. While this plot sounds like something out of a television crime story, this is actually based on a true event that took place in the year 1895-96.

The author, James Livingston, a descendant of the accused, utilized information handed down through the years by the family. Mary had her daughter and a friend take a pail of poisoned clam chowder to her mother. The main theme throughout the plot is: did Mary Alice Livingston poison her mother? The trial is quite interesting. Once the conclusion is reached and all evidence is produced, it leaves the reader wondering, did she or didn't she.

There is a lot of detailed history throughout the book, newspaper wars, the advent of skyscrapers, the automobile, police corruption and much more. This all relates to the gilded age that Mary was raised in. If you are a reader who likes the true crime genre especially of that age then I feel you will find this book quite interesting; not only for the murder trial but the history of that time.

Definitely an Intriguing MUST read!
Wow! What a book! Definitely one that I would be interested in reading again. James Livingston really dug deep into history and into the facts on this murder and put them all together into one FANTASTIC read!

Livingston tells the story behind this murder. A murder in the 1800's, to me, is just intriguing. Intriguing because when I think of the 1800's, I think of peace and a time that I would LOVE to be a part of. Not a time where someone who, with 4 children out of wedlock and living across the hall from her stepfather at a hotel, decides to take the life of her own mother, by sending her clam chowder laced with Arsenic. I found this novel to be VERY mysterious with it's twist and turns of trying to determine this one thing: did Mary Alice Livingston, a woman who baited men with her children, whom never really loved her children, KILL her mother with poison?

The style that Livingston uses to write this novel, makes it read more like a fictional novel than a true crime novel. I really liked that, however, I think he could have used a bit less of the headlines. Those did get a little boring for me. But, once I got past all those, and really got a good dose of the crime and the mystery behind it all, I was hooked! I felt like I was a part of that gilded era and helping to convict Mary Alice. I mean, come on. WHO in their RIGHT mind would do that to their 50 something mother?!

I loved how Livingston added the details of the changing times and how the investigation took place. The evidence gathered against Mary Alice was intriguing. I also loved how this book showed that just because you come from a prominently wealthy family, doesn't always mean that you are a good family. Every family has their problems, but this family CERTAINLY had just a few more than most people during that time. This book really opens up my eyes to a different era in time and gets me thinking that history, while one of my favorite things to learn about and read about, it has some details to it that isn't all that different! Crime happened then just as it does now and I enjoyed reading about how the trial went and the outcome of the crime.

Is this a book that I recommend? Most definitely! Especially if you are into the true crime TV shows and movies. This is a perfect addition to your shelves! Four stars and two thumbs up to a great author!

*This book was provided for review by PUYB*

Arsenic and Clam Chowder
I could not put this book down.This is better than an Agatha Christie.PDJames step aside.And this murder mystery is TRUE.The gilded age setting was fascinating as were the newspaper wars of the era.
There is something very Henry James about the distressed female heroine of the story-- what options does a single mother have?
The plot is twisting and will puzzle the most seasoned mystery buff.....cannot recommend this book enough.A great holiday gift!! ... Read more

Product Description
This book is the first complete study of Timothy D. 'Big Tim' Sullivan, Tammany chieftain and kingmaker, 'King of the Lower East Side', and, to some, 'King of the Underworld'. Sullivan was a pivotal figure in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century urban politics. A master of the personal, paternalistic, and corrupt no-holds-barred politics of the nineteenth century, he heartily embraced progressive causes in his later years and anticipated many of the policies and initiatives later pursued by Al Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt, who were early acquaintances and sometimes antagonists of Sullivan.The story of Big Tim Sullivan is the story of New York City as it emerged from the nineteenth century to the onset of modernity. Sullivan was a rags-to-riches story, a poor Irish kid from the Five Points who rose through ambition, shrewdness, and charisma to become the most powerful single politician in New York by 1909. Sullivan was quick to embrace and harness the shifting demographic patterns of the Lower East Side, recruiting Jewish and Italian newcomers into his largely Irish organization - his 'machine within a machine' - meeting the newcomers' needs, taking their votes, and creating a personal following that made him invincible in his downtown bastion. Richard F. Welch is a professor at C. W. Post College of Long Island University. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

king of the Bowery
Very interesting book. This guy big Tim is family, his people left my home place in Lohart, Kenmare, Co Kerry in the 1800's.

The roguish life and times of an amazingly charismatic (albeit morally questionable) public figure
King of the Bowery: Big Time Sullivan, Tammany Hall, and New York City from the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era is a scholarly, in-depth examination of Timothy D. "Big Tim" Sullivan, colloquially known as "King of the Lower East Side" or even "King of the Underworld" due to his behind-the-scenes influence in early twentieth century New York City politics. Sullivan became the single most powerful New York politician by 1909 by capitalizing on changing demographic patterns and recruiting the loyalty of Jewish and Italian newcomers into his primarily Irish organization. A reputation of corruption dogged him, particularly since part of his income came from involvement with the underworld in general and gambling in particular (throughout his life he emphatically denied that he profited from prostitution). His tabloid-worthy life ended in a bizarre death, which in turn spawned a wealth of conspiracy theories. King of the Bowery is an unforgettable look at the seamy side of turn of the century New York politics, as well as the roguish life and times of an amazingly charismatic (albeit morally questionable) public figure.

Interesting albeit recycled resources
As a serious student of New York City urban politics and history and a great-grandson of Mr. Sullivan, there are no monographs about Big Tim Sullivan. The best that students, or scholars can hope for, is the information contained in newspapers and serials of the time. Sullivan himself, left almost no diaries or letters.
Most of the material contained in this tome are basically the accounts that appeared in newspapers of that era (early 20th century). As a result, there is very little new information contained herein.

If you would like an overview of Sullivan's life and times, this is probably the book for you. If you would like to save some money, you can find most of the information through the New York Times archives accessible via the web.
Hence, while this book is not inherently poor or hastily written, I would give it one star for the reasons thus cited. ... Read more

Product Description
The reconciliation of North and South following the Civil War depended as much on cultural imagination as on the politics of Reconstruction. Drawing on a wide range of sources, Nina Silber documents the transformation from hostile sectionalism to sentimental reunion rhetoric.

Northern culture created a notion of reconciliation that romanticized and feminized southern society. In tourist accounts, novels, minstrel shows, and popular magazines, northerners contributed to a mythic and nostalgic picture of the South that served to counter their anxieties regarding the breakdown of class and gender roles in Gilded Age America. Indeed, for many Yankees, the ultimate symbol of the reunion process, and one that served to reinforce Victorian values as well as northern hegemony, was the marriage of a northern man and a southern woman.

Southern men also were represented as affirming traditional gender roles. As northern men wrestled with their nation's increasingly global and aggressive foreign policy, the military virtues extolled in Confederate legend became more admired than reviled. By the 1890s, concludes Silber, northern whites had accepted not only a newly resplendent image of Dixie but also a sentimentalized view of postwar reunion. ... Read more

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Frankfort is one of the sixteen cities which have the distinction of being the place where the following incident occurred. Charlemagne, while chasing the Saxons (as HE said), or being chased by them (as THEY said), arrived at the bank of the river at dawn, in a fog. The enemy were either before him or behind him; but in any case he wanted to get across, very badly. He would have given anything for a guide, but none was to be had. Presently he saw a deer, followed by her young, approach the water. He watched her, judging that she would seek a ford, and he was right. She waded over, and the army followed. So a great Frankish victory or defeat was gained or avoided; and in order to commemorate the episode, Charlemagne commanded a city to be built there, which he named Frankfort--the ford of the Franks. None of the other cities where this event happened were named for it. This is good evidence that Frankfort was the first place it occurred at.

Downlaod A Tramp Abroad Now! ... Read more

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A lauded contribution to historical sociology, Class and the Color Line is an analysis of social-movement organizing across racial lines in the American South during the 1880s and the 1890s. The Knights of Labor and the Populists were the largest and most influential movements of their day, as well as the first to undertake large-scale organizing in the former Confederate states, where they attempted to recruit African Americans as fellow workers and voters.

While scholars have long debated whether the Knights and the Populists were genuine in their efforts to cross the color line, Joseph Gerteis shifts attention from that question to those of how, where, and when the movements' organizers drew racial boundaries. Arguing that the movements were simultaneously racially inclusive and exclusive, Gerteis explores the connections between race and the movements' economic and political interests in their cultural claims and in the dynamics of local organizing.

Interpreting data from the central journals of the Knights of Labor and the two major Populist organizations, the Farmers' Alliance and the People's Party, Gerteis explains how the movements made sense of the tangled connections between race, class, and republican citizenship. He considers how these collective narratives motivated action in specific contexts: in Richmond and Atlanta in the case of the Knights of Labor, and in Virginia and Georgia in that of the Populists. Gerteis demonstrates that the movements' collective narratives galvanized interracial organizing to varying degrees in different settings. At the same time, he illuminates the ways that interracial organizing was enabled or constrained by local material, political, and social conditions. ... Read more

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From the Gilded Age to the end of World War II, what, where, when, and how Americans ate all changed radically. Migration to urban areas took people away from their personal connection to food sources. Immigration, primarily from Europe, and political influence of the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Pacific brought us new ingredients, cuisines, and foodways. Technological breakthroughs engendered the widespread availability of refrigeration, as well as faster cooking times. The invention of the automobile augured the introduction of Òroad food,Ó and the growth of commercial transportation meant that a wider assortment of foods was available year round. Major food crises occurred during the Depression and two world wars.

Food in the United States, 1890-1945 documents these changes, taking students and general readers through the period to explain what our foodways say about our society. This intriguing narrative is enlivened with numerous period anecdotes that bring America history alive through food history.

Customer Reviews (1)

Nicely organized into four major sections (Food Stuffs; Food Preparation; Eating habits; Concepts of Diet and Nutrition and Food
It was in 1893 that the United States Supreme Court designated the tomato as a vegetable for the purposes of trade. In 1903 James Dole began canning pineapple in order to make it easier and more reliable to sell them elsewhere in this country and around the world. In 1923 the ice cream industry was revolutionized with the introduction of Good Humor bars. The commercial soda pop industry began with the introduction of 7-Up in 1929. Innovations where also happening in the kitchen as well with the 1930 introduction of the Sunbeam Mixmaster. The American military saw innovations as well, such as Spam from the Hormel Company in 1937 and K Rations in 1944. The federal government contributed to the regulating of the food industry with The National Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906. All of these fascinating bits of food, food industry, and domestic food preparations (and so much more!) are laid out by Megan J. Elias (Assistant Professor of History, Queensborough Community College, Bayside, New York) in the pages of "Food In The United States 1890-1945", the newest title in the outstanding Greenwood Press 'Food in American History' series. After an informed and informative introduction, "Food In The United States 1890-1945" is very nicely organized into four major sections (Food Stuffs; Food Preparation; Eating habits; Concepts of Diet and Nutrition and Food Crises). With the addition of an extensive bibliography and a comprehensive index, and a work of exceptionally impressive scholarship, "Food In The United States 1890-1945" is enthusiastically recommended as a unique and seminal addition to academic and community library American History reference collections.
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First published in 1850, New York by Gas-Light explores the seamy side of the newly emerging metropolis: "the festivities of prostitution, the orgies of pauperism, the haunts of theft and murder, the scenes of drunkenness and beastly debauch, and all the sad realities that go to make up the lower stratumthe underground storyof life in New York!" The author of this lively and fascinating little book, which both attracted and offended large numbers of readers in Victorian America, was George G. Foster, reporter for Horace Greeley's influential New York Tribune, social commentator, poet, and man about town. Foster drew on his daily and nightly rambles through the city's streets and among the characters of the urban demi-monde to produce a sensationalized but extraordinarily revealing portrait of New York at the moment it was emerging as a major metropolis. Reprinted here with sketches from two of Foster's other books, New York by Gas-Light will be welcomed by students of urban social history, popular culture, literature, and journalism.Editor Stuart M. Blumin has provided a penetrating introductory essay that sets Foster's life and work in the contexts of the growing city, the development of the mass-distribution publishing industry, the evolving literary genre of urban sensationalism, and the wider culture of Victorian America. This is an important reintroduction to a significant but neglected work, a prologue to the urban realism that would flourish later in the fiction of Stephen Crane, the painting of George Bellows, and the journalism of Jacob Riis. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Brilliant and funny
After suffering through the prolonged editor's remarks trying to fruitlessless explain Foster's life, go to the real meat of this book.Mr. Foster gives you an insider's look into New York City in the middle of the 19th century.Perhaps he exaggerates some points, but his writing style is rivetting and exceptionally funny for a 19th century author.A must-read!

A Great Sampler of a Great Sensationalist
Stuart Blumin has done a brilliant job of capturing the essence of George Foster's contemporaneous accounts of New York as he presented it, in "New York by Gas-Light and Other Urban Sketches". By that I mean that this collection of "sketches" are not to be taken as literal accounts. This is not a history. George Foster was one of the acknowledged kings of sensationalism when it came to writing about mid-19th century New York City.

While the Five Points neighborhood was a crime-ridden, filthy neighborhood, its depiction in Foster's accounts are highly exaggerated. And while crime was an unavoidable element of a New York which, at the time, had no real police force, Foster's essays would lead one to believe that merely walking down the street--any street--was an invitation to mayhem. This was not true then, nor is it now. So why did he write these sketches? Why did he make Manhattan seem so undesirable? Because there was a profit to be made. Affluent New Yorkers bought these types of books to make themselves feel better about their own situations, and it offered them a bit of voyeurism into a dark world that was a part of their island. It also proved popular with people in other cities, as they could read about the terrors of a New York City that was cluttered with "filthy immigrants", criminals and chaos. And George Foster played it to the hilt!

If you can put aside the over-the-top stuff, however, there is much to be learned in these pages. The streets of lower Manhattan were congested, they did smell (think of the wild pigs or of the countless horses that were relied upon for transportation), and the misery of the slums was a given, if you were poor. Foster's language is also an undeniable historic artifact, as it captures the idioms of the day.

For my money, the more historic sketches are in the second half of this collection, the streaks of "sunlight". Here Foster presents a handful of vignettes of every day life in the growing city. "The Eating-Houses" is a delightful look at how ordinary men and women took their meals. And the "Quarter of an Hour under an Awning" is so lucid, so cleanly written--even with its pickpocket story--that it is the most "real feeling" essay in the book. The sudden storm that breaks out during the afternoon rush hour, the inablility to catch an omnibus (bus) or a hack (taxi) rings true to this day. At times, on my lunch hour, I walk by the street corner near City Hall where this quarter of an hour passed, and can watch it all transpire in my head. With so many of the old buildings still extant in that area, it's easy to do.

"New York by Gas-Light and Other Urban Sketches" is a marvelous book about a by-gone era in New York's history, as well as a great insight into the sensational sensationalist that George Foster was.

Rocco Dormarunno, author of The Five Points and The Five Points Concluded

Excellent First-Person Account of New York Life in 1850
This book was a delight to read. The fact that it was written as a first person account, using the vernacular of the time, made it even better. Also, the fact that the majority of the book is involved with nocturnal New York, and all the seedy goings-on one might associate with it in any time period, make it even more interesting. I especially liked the way Foster evoked a sense of adventure, by figuratively taking the readers hand and "leading" him down darkened streets and alleys, etc.

For a quick dose of NYC history from a perspective you can't get everywhere else, this book is highly recommended. ... Read more