Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of The Story of Chicago May

The Story of Chicago May
ALbookbugg avatar reviewed on
Helpful Score: 5


This book tells the story of May Duignan, AKA Chicago May. In the early 1900's, May runs away from her rural home in Ireland to go to America. When she gets there, she turns to a life of crime and prostitution and she gradually becomes a notorious, well-known figure in Chicago. She was so well-known that she was dubbed âThe Queen of the Underworldâ in the tabloids of the time. She even wrote a book of her own experiences that survives to this day. How I'd love to have a chance to read it!
This book also gives a candid view of the very poor that lived in squalid tenements, worked in nasty brothels, and drank in seedy taverns. You can almost see the sights and smell the stink. Excellent book!