American Eve, Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White, The Birth Of The It Girl And The Crime Of The Century (2000) - Plot & Excerpts
The writing is florid, which might be a style device reflecting the writing of the time, but it got on my nerves. Heavy on Evelyn's youth and life before the trial, light on anything afterwards, which worked well. If you're interested, I would strongly suggest NOT getting this as an ebook because it's picture-heavy, and it would be nice to be able to easily flip back and forth between images and the text that discusses their context. I enjoyed this excellent and scholarly telling of a fascinating true story. Dr. Uruburu made this vibrant and personal when others might well have been daunted by the the hundred plus year gap in social mores between the key incidents and our current perspective. Evelyn Nesbit lives in these pages, along with Harry Thaw, Stanford White, and even Joh Barrymore, playing an unaccustomed bit part. The story captures its time, but is not hampered by it. It stimulated me to complete Evelyn's life story via multiple web excursions. Yet the very unplumbable depths that Evelyn displayed in this story remained throughout the rest of her long life. She was a paradox of enticing, vulnerable accessibility covering a deep inaccessibility that this intriguing book allows us to understand and accept. A remarkable book.
What do You think about American Eve, Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White, The Birth Of The It Girl And The Crime Of The Century (2000)?
Purple and overwritten to the max, yet compelling. Made me want to re-read Ragtime.
—rach
Read like a novel. Had always been interested in subject matter. Learned much.
—crys
Closed the book walked away after page 25. Way, way overwritten!!!!
—pilou
