Madeleine

An insider's eloquent, moving account of life as a nineteenth century prostitute. This memoir offers a vivid account of brothel life in 1890s North Americain the city (Chicago, St. Louis), the Western boom town (Butte, Montana), and on the Canadian frontier. Containing the introductions to the 1919 and 1986 editions (by Judge Ben B. Lindsey and scholar Marcia Carlisle, respectively), its eponymous narrator offers great insight into the daily workings of both "high" and "low" class houses, as well as her relationships with madams, clientele, and members of the "legitimate" society in which prostitution flourished.