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.
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.
Beauty through history has caused many grown men to resort to violence. Beauty opens doors and closes them shut, and in this case, the beauty of American Eve is an exemplary true tale that when it comes to passion, sexual deviation and power the very rich will show their true colors. And this girl was a beauty since childhood and everything that happened after that fact makes for a very interesting read. The author is top of the line, surprisingly elegant and efficiently precise in his description of characters, settings and the inner turmoils among men, in this case the powerful and vain. I was glad I read this book, mostly for the amazing skills of the writer. This is as good an account of any non fiction writers out there, past and present.
As to the sickness of the situation I can only say that human nature never ceases to surprise and alarm, not everyone walks the straight and narrow, let's just leave it at that. Good book, all the elements in place and a great turn of the century account. 4.5 Stars, most definitely!
As to the sickness of the situation I can only say that human nature never ceases to surprise and alarm, not everyone walks the straight and narrow, let's just leave it at that. Good book, all the elements in place and a great turn of the century account. 4.5 Stars, most definitely!
