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Brothels, Bordellos, and Bad Girls
- Prostitution in Colorado, 1860-1930
- Narrated by: Laura Jennings
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Categories: Health & Wellness, Psychology & Mental Health
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Publisher's Summary
Prostitution thrived in pioneer Colorado. Mining was the principal occupation and men outnumbered women more than twenty to one. Jan MacKell provides a detailed overview of the business between 1860 and 1930, focusing her research on the mining towns of Cripple Creek, Salida, Colorado City, and similar boomtown communities. She used census data, Sanborn maps, city directories, property records, marriage records, and court records to document and trace the movements of the women over the course of their careers, uncovering work histories, medical problems, and numerous relocations from town to town. She traces many to their graves, through years filled with abuse, disease, narcotics, and violence.
The book is published by University of New Mexico Press.
Critic Reviews
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What listeners say about Brothels, Bordellos, and Bad Girls
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Audrey DeAngelis
- 08-19-20
almost computerized narration
I'm still listening, but the narration is really mechanized To the point that a few sentences are hard to understand because the inflection doesn't make sense. It just makes it hard to be interested in the story.
1 person found this helpful
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- B Rose
- 06-22-15
Ruined by narrator.
This could have and should have been a great book. I thought it would go into the lives of some of the women, but instead it's just about their lifestyle. There are so many great stories about the women of those days, I can't figure out why the author didn't tell them. The narrator is horrible! She talks so fast, it made me out and o f breath just listening. Too bad that a great subject was written and narrated so poorly.
1 person found this helpful
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- John
- 04-20-14
Surprising!
This is a really fascinating book, apparently very well researched, well-written, and very entertaining as well. It's a shame that the reader doesn't seem to understand the significance of paragraphs in written English. She spaces every sentence in the book exactly the same distance for the previous one regardless whether the ideas in them are connected in any way whatsoever. It's VERY distracting from a history that deserves much better. The book is worth putting up with the shortcomings of the performance, anyway.
1 person found this helpful
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- Michelle
- 02-28-19
For Colorado Enthusiasts!
If you enjoy hearing about Colorado's history with this subject this is definitely the book for you. Has interesting highlights of way of life, fashion, moral standards, the "food chain" so to speak of Bordellos and brothels. Very interesting to hear the names chosen by the women themselves.
Really a very superficial overview of the police records of the time involving these women and their clients and their pimps. would be nice if it had more of a story line versus just facts investigated thru police records and old photos. (my assumption of course).
The narration was very monotonous and straight to the point. Making it tolerable but uninteresting. again my opinion.
Great timeline to follow but just not enough story to it.
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Overall
- brian draus
- 05-19-17
Informational, but lacks structure
overall ok book on subject. repeats inormation through out book. 1st half of book not well organized and bounces around with no clear structure.
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- Duncan Howorth
- 03-31-19
Hard work
I found it a bit of a dull listen. The tale was dry and the tone academic. Lots of facts, names and places - fine as a work of reference but for me it did not work that well as an audio experience. I did find many of the story features interesting, the gold rush, the rush from al over America to mine, the hardship and the coming of prohibition. Perhaps more thematic analysis would have contributed
1 person found this helpful