The sewing girl's tale : a story of crime and consequences in Revolutionary America Cover Image

Book

The sewing girl's tale : a story of crime and consequences in Revolutionary America / John Wood Sweet.

Sweet, John Wood, 1966- (author.).

Summary:

"A riveting historical drama that tells the story of the first rape trial on record in American history and the fault lines of class privilege and gender bias that it exposed, showing how much has changed over two centuries and how much has not"-- Provided by publisher

Summer, 1793. A crime was committed in the back room of a New York brothel-- the kind of crime that even victims usually kept secret. Instead, seventeen-year-old seamstress Lanah Sawyer charged a gentleman with rape. Her accusation sparked a raw courtroom drama and a relentless struggle for vindication that threatened both Lanah's and her assailant's lives. The trial exposed a predatory sexual underworld, sparked riots in the streets, and ignited a vigorous debate about class privilege and sexual double standards. Sweet takes us from a chance encounter in the street, and shows that if our laws and our culture were changed by a persistent young woman and the power of words two hundred years ago, they can be changed again--Adapted from dust jacket

Record details

ISBN: 9781250761965
ISBN: 1250761964
Physical Description: 365 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 25 cm
Edition: First edition
Publisher: New York : Henry Holt and Company, 2022
Copyright: ©2022

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-347) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	Prologue -- Rescue -- Mother Carey -- Daylight -- The rake -- The pilot -- Gatekeepers -- The prosecutrix -- Closing arguments -- Outrage -- Seduction -- Recovery -- Epilogue.
Awards Note:	Francis Parkman Prize, 2023 Bancroft Prize, 2023