The Lost Sisterhood: Prostitution in America, 1900-1918

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing women's history
Review: Anyone interested in American women's history and the history of the progressive period will be fascinated by this engrossing book. Rosen explains prostitution within the context of a rapidly growing United States, showing how concerns over prostitution dovetailed with concerns about problems of industrialization and urbanization and immigration. Rosen explores the various attitudes of progressive reformers toward prostitution and explores the lives and works of the prostitutes themselves. There are a few interesting photos included in the book, too.

Rating:
Summary: simply fascinating
Review: The Lost Sisterhood is a fascinating account of prostitution at the turn of the last century. It is also a marvelous glimpse at the challenges and difficulties faced by lower class women - persons who had many careers and doors closed to them, prostitution one of the few ways an independent (ie. unmarried) woman could earn a living.

Far from a sordid or judgemental account, Rosen explores the factors behind the profession, its tolerance (especially in the growing cities of the West), and the attitudes of contemporary Americans towards the trade and those who plied it. I recommend the book for its straightforwardness on a challenging topic, as well as for its honest treatment of the subject and scholarship.

Rating:
Summary: simply fascinating
Review: The Lost Sisterhood is a fascinating account of prostitution at the turn of the last century. It is also a marvelous glimpse at the challenges and difficulties faced by lower class women - persons who had many careers and doors closed to them, prostitution one of the few ways an independent (ie. unmarried) woman could earn a living.

Far from a sordid or judgemental account, Rosen explores the factors behind the profession, its tolerance (especially in the growing cities of the West), and the attitudes of contemporary Americans towards the trade and those who plied it. I recommend the book for its straightforwardness on a challenging topic, as well as for its honest treatment of the subject and scholarship.