History and Women
Chris Enss has put together a specular collection of colorful, powerful, and debauched bad girls who romped, gambled, whored, robbed, and shot their way through life in America's old west. I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoyed reading this book. Complete with pictures, each woman's story is told with a startling, fresh, to-the-point prose. Mincing no words, the colorful life of each woman is brilliantly portrayed. What truly impressed me is the amount of research and digging the author had to do to uncover details and facts of the lives portrayed. Loved, loved, loved this book. It's one that I will always keep on my favorites bookshelf.
From the Publisher
"Kirsten Potter offers a solid, even-handed narration of this collection of profiles." ---AudioFile
From the Publisher - AUDIO COMMENTARY
"Kirsten Potter offers a solid, even-handed narration of this collection of profiles." —AudioFile
Library Journal - Audio
02/15/2016
Enss's (The Doctor Wore Petticoats) latest is a collection of profiles of outlaws, gamblers, prostitutes, and madams of the Old West. These notorious women were not proper wives and schoolmarms but women who out of desire or necessity went West to make it on their own. Listeners will recognize some of the names, e.g., Belle Starr and Calamity Jane, while others—Josie Washburn, Nebraska's reluctant madam; Alice Ivers, Deadwood cardsharp; and Martha Jane Canary, the Blackhills Calamity, for instance—are less well known. The book provides some insight into another thread in the settling of the American frontier, but the lives of the women frequently follow a similar trajectory, making their stories oddly repetitive. Kirsten Potter gives a crisp performance. VERDICT Recommended for public libraries with demonstrated interest in Western and women's history.—Cynthia Jensen, Gladys Harrington Lib., Plano, TX
OCTOBER 2015 - AudioFile
In the Old West, there weren’t many ways for a woman to make her own money. Some turned to prostitution or gambling. This book chronicles several of them, some quite successful and others who died penniless or in despair. Kirsten Potter offers a solid, even-handed narration of this collection of profiles. Her tone practically revels in the success stories, particularly those of the talented gamblers who beat men at their own game. For the stories of downfall, she takes a quiet, respectful tone. The rest of the time she reads evenly and without any note of judgment as she dramatizes the harsh realities that often drove these women’s decisions. The short chapters make this book ideal for commuters. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
