Tracy T. (charliebear) -
Helpful Score: 2
While the book doesn't really live up to the hype on the dust jacket (i.e., it is not a tour de force of historical crime writing), it is a fascinating little bit of research. I ran across Evelyn Nesbit when I happened upon a copy of "The Traitor" written by her first husband Harry Thaw. It was that piece of insane rambling that made me think it was worth knowing a bit about Evelyn Nesbit, given that she was such a force in creating the prototype for people like Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, and others of that ilk. This book is an interesting look at her life and worth reading if only to understand a bit about the depravity of American society at the turn of the 20th century, a time when the rich could get away with almost anything, including murder.
Nancy B. (crz4books) reviewed American Eve: Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White, the Birth of the 'It' Girl and the Crime of the Century on + 12 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
She was Americas FIRST Supermodel, sex goddess and modern celebrity. She was also the temptress at the center of the "Crime of the Century" ~ the murder of celebrated architect Standford White, shot point-blank before a packed audience in a theatre he had designed. The story of Evelyn Nesbit is one of money, romance, madness and murder. It is Evelyn's story but it also paints a vivid picture of Gilded Age New York and America in the first decades of the 20th Century. LOVED this book. I had a grandmother born in 1906 so it was very revelant to me to be reading about that era. Was a little surprised to find out how very much things have changed, and yet so little.
