A Dirty Year, Bill Greer
A Dirty Year, Bill Greer
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

A Dirty Year
Sex, Suffrage, and Scandal in Gilded Age New York

Author: Bill Greer

Narrator: Peter Berkrot

Unabridged: 11 hr 38 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/14/2020

Synopsis

As 1872 opened, the New York Times headlined four stories that symptomized the decay in public morals that the editors so frequently decried: financier Jim Fisk was gunned down in a love triangle; suffragist and free-love advocate Victoria Woodhull was running for president; antivice activist Anthony Comstock battled smut dealers poisoning children’s minds; and abortionists were thriving. Throughout the year these stories intertwined in unimaginable ways, pulling in others, both famous and infamous—suffragists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton; Brooklyn’s beloved preacher Henry Ward Beecher; the nation’s richest tycoon, Cornelius Vanderbilt; and William Howe, preeminent counsel to the criminal element.From rigged elections, everyday shootings, and attacks on the press to sexual impropriety, reproductive rights, and the chasm between rich and poor, the issues of the day still resonate. Political parties split over a bitterly contested election; suffragist battled suffragist over bettering women’s place in society; and pious saints fought soulless sinners, until at year end this jumble of conflicts exploded in the greatest sensation of the nineteenth century.

About Bill Greer

Bill Greer has spent decades exploring New York. His novel The Mevrouw Who Saved Manhattan portrays the city’s founding as New Amsterdam. He chaired the New Netherland Institute’s program to establish the New Netherland Research Center, has received the Institute’s Howard Hageman award, and has spoken on New York history throughout the Hudson Valley. Bill holds a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. Visit him at BillsBrownstone.com.

About Peter Berkrot

Peter Berkrot, a forty-year veteran of stage and screen, has voiced over 450 audiobook titles, winning Earphones Awards, a 2012 Audie Award nomination, and a 2016 Audie Award.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Michelle on April 26, 2020

"A Dirty Year” took me on a fabulous ride, propelling through the narrative with incredible energy. It reads like a fast-paced, multi-faceted novel filled with sensational events and an extraordinary cast of characters – except that it’s all true and expertly researched! With his marvelous story-tell......more

Goodreads review by Devon on June 22, 2024

A wild tale of the year 1872. We’ve got murder, we’ve got sex, and we’ve got people being naughty. At first I wasn’t sure about the back and forth between multiple people, but I ended up digging it. The book for the majority of time weaves in-between Comstock, Victoria Woodhull (and Susan B. Anthony,......more

Goodreads review by Nightwitch on December 04, 2023

This is really a look at 1872 in New York through the eyes of the tabloid press. Topics covered include: the murder of Jim Fisk, Victoria Woodhull and her sister and their involvement in the women's suffrage movement, the trial of several people who performed abortions, Comstock’s persecutions of se......more

Goodreads review by Daniel on April 17, 2021

This book was uneven and did not tie the parts together into a coherent whole. It had some very interesting parts and most of the individual arcs are good. It does a good job of illustrating the hypocritical moralizing of many of those who self appoint themselves as judges of vice.......more

Quotes

“Greer gracefully weaves between each story, carefully parsing out details and elucidating the core issues which still resonate today. His solid research and outstanding storytelling skills create an enjoyable read.” Booklist

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