AUDIO

Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Ladies from the Old West

by Chris Enss
6 CDs. 7 hrs. ISBN 9781494516406. $34.99. 1 MP3-CD. HIST
COPY ISBN
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.
Reviewed by Cynthia Jensen, Gladys Harrington Lib., Plano, TX , Feb 15, 2016
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