Madam Belle: Sex, Money, and Influence in a Southern Brothel

Condition - Very Good
The item shows wear from consistent use, but it remains in good condition and functions properly. Item may arrive with damaged packaging or be repackaged. It may be marked, have identifying markings on it, or have minor cosmetic damage. It may also be missing some parts/accessories or bundled items.

Madam Belle: Sex, Money, and Influence in a Southern Brothel (Topics in Kentucky History)

Belle Brezing made a major career move when she stepped off the streets of Lexington, Kentucky, and into Jennie Hill's bawdy houseâ€•an upscale brothel run out of a former residence of Mary Todd Lincoln. At nineteen, Brezing was already infamous as a youth steeped in death, sex, drugs, and scandal. But it was in Miss Hill's "respectable" establishment that she began to acquire the skills, manners, and business contacts that allowed her to ascend to power and influence as an internationally known madam.

In this revealing book, Maryjean Wall offers a tantalizing true story of vice and power in the Gilded Age South, as told through the life and times of the notorious Miss Belle. After years on the streets and working for Hill, Belle Brezing borrowed enough money to set up her own establishmentâ€•her wealth and fame growing alongside the booming popularity of horse racing. Soon, her houses were known internationally, and powerful patrons from the industrial cities of the Northeast courted her in the lavish parlors of her gilt-and-mirror mansion.

Secrecy was a moral code in the sequestered demimonde of prostitution in Victorian America, so little has been written about the Southern madam credited with inspiring the character Belle Watling in Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. Following Brezing from her birth amid the ruins of the Civil War to the height of her scarlet fame and beyond, Wall uses her story to explore a wider world of sex, business, politics, and power. The result is a scintillating tale that is as enthralling as any fiction.

Country	USA
Author	Maryjean Wall
Binding	Hardcover
EAN	9780813147062
ISBN	0813147069
Label	University Press of Kentucky
Manufacturer	University Press of Kentucky
NumberOfItems	1
NumberOfPages	232
PublicationDate	2014-09-12
Publisher	University Press of Kentucky
Studio	University Press of Kentucky
ReleaseDate	0000-00-00

Madam Belle: Sex, Money, and Influence in a Southern Brothel (Topics in Kentucky History)

You might also like...