The Sewing Girl's Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America
(OverDrive MP3 Audiobook, OverDrive Listen)
New York Times Editors' Choice
Winner of the Bancroft Prize
Winner of the New York Society Library's New York City Book Award
A riveting Revolutionary Era drama of the first published rape trial in American history and its long, shattering aftermath, revealing how much has changed over two centuries—and how much has not
On a moonless night in the summer of 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 did what virtually no one in US history had done before: she 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. The ongoing conflict attracted the nation's top lawyers, including Alexander Hamilton, and shaped the development of American law. The crime and its consequences became a kind of parable about the power of seduction and the limits of justice. Eventually, Lanah Sawyer did succeed in holding her assailant accountable—but at a terrible cost to herself.
Based on rigorous historical detective work, this book takes us from a chance encounter in the street into the sanctuaries of the city's elite, the shadows of its brothels, and the despair of its debtors' prison. The Sewing Girl's Tale 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.
A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Co.
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John Wood Sweet. (2022). The Sewing Girl's Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America. Unabridged Macmillan Audio.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)John Wood Sweet. 2022. The Sewing Girl's Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America. Macmillan Audio.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)John Wood Sweet, The Sewing Girl's Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America. Macmillan Audio, 2022.
MLA Citation (style guide)John Wood Sweet. The Sewing Girl's Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America. Unabridged Macmillan Audio, 2022.
| Library | Owned | Available |
|---|---|---|
| Shared Digital Collection | 5 | 3 |
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- bioText: John Wood Sweet is a professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the former director of UNC's Program in Sexuality Studies. He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mellon Foundation, the National Humanities Center, the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at UNC, and the Gilder Lehrman Center at Yale, among others. His first book, Bodies Politic: Negotiating Race in the American North, 1730–1830, was a finalist for the Frederick Douglass Prize. He was named a Top Young Historian by the History News Network and has served as an Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lecturer. He lives in Chapel Hill with his husband, son, and daughter.
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New York Times Editors' Choice
Winner of the Bancroft Prize
Winner of the New York Society Library's New York City Book Award
A riveting Revolutionary Era drama of the first published rape trial in American history and its long, shattering aftermath, revealing how much has changed over two centuries—and how much has not
On a moonless night in the summer of 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 did what virtually no one in US history had done before: she 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. The ongoing conflict attracted the nation's top lawyers, including Alexander Hamilton, and shaped the development of American law. The crime and its consequences became a kind of parable about the power of seduction and the limits of justice. Eventually, Lanah Sawyer did succeed in holding her assailant accountable—but at a terrible cost to herself.
Based on rigorous historical detective work, this book takes us from a chance encounter in the street into the sanctuaries of the city's elite, the shadows of its brothels, and the despair of its debtors' prison. The Sewing Girl's Tale 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.
A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Co.- reviews
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- content: Gabra Zackman narrates this meticulous account of the first rape trial in post-Revolutionary War (1793) New York City. Seventeen-year-old seamstress Lanah Sawyer is graced with manners, some education, and a dose of na�vet�. Upon being raped, Lanah, with her stepfather's support, brings suit against Harry Bedlow, a notorious rake and cheat, and member of the moneyed class. Zackman steadily recounts the minute, sometimes repetitive, details of every thread of evidence and iota of information uncovered, replete with historical background, while researching this case. Zackman's flowing recitation pauses briefly before trial accounts, legal references, and historical documents. As the story is told in the third person, the minimal dialogue is clearly differentiated by Zackman's tonal shift into a low, terse vocal register. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
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New York Times Editors' Choice
Winner of the Bancroft Prize
Winner of the New York Society Library's New York City Book Award
A riveting Revolutionary Era drama of the first published rape trial in American history and its long, shattering aftermath, revealing how much has changed over two centuries—and how much has not
On a moonless night in the summer of 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 did what virtually no one in US history had done before: she 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...- sortTitle
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- tableOfContents
ABOUT THIS BOOK
PROLOGUE
1- RESCUE
2- MOTHER CAREY
3- DAYLIGHT
4- THE RAKE
5- THE PILOT
6- GATEKEEPERS
7- THE PROSECUTRIX
8- CLOSING ARGUMENTS
9- OUTRAGE
10- SEDUCTION
11- RECOVERY
EPILOGUE
Appendix: Reconstructing Lanah Sawyer's World
Notes
Acknowledgments
Illustration Credits
Index- RESCUE
- bisacCodes
- code: HIS036030
- description: History / United States / Revolutionary Period (1775-1800)
- code: LAW060000
- description: Law / Legal History
- code: SOC028000
- description: Social Science / Women's Studies
