Wicked Victorian Boston

Robert Wilhelm

Jul 2017 · Arcadia Publishing

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“An entertaining and well-illustrated anecdotal survey of ‘vice’ and efforts to control it in mid- and late 19th century Boston” (The Boston Guardian).
 
Victorian Boston was more than just stately brownstones and elite society that graced neighborhoods like Beacon Hill. As the population grew, the city developed a seedy underbelly just below its surface. Illegal saloons, prostitution, and sports gambling challenged the image of the Puritan City. Daughters of the Boston Brahmins posed for nude photographs. The grandson of President John Adams was roped into an elaborate confidence game. Reverend William Downs, a local Baptist pastor, was caught in bed with a married parishioner. Author Robert Wilhelm reveals the sinful history behind Boston’s Victorian grandeur.
 
Includes photos!
 
“Amusingly and quaintly illustrated . . . about, for example, such lovely late 19th Century activities as prostitution, drinking in illegal saloons, animal fighting, sports gambling, opium dens and daughters of Boston Brahmins posing nude for photos.” —New England Diary

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Robert Wilhelm is the author of Murder and Mayhem in Essex County (The History Press), a history of capital crimes in Essex County, Massachusetts, from the 1600s to the turn of the twentieth century, and The Bloody Century (Night Stick Press), a compilation of true tales of murder in nineteenth-century America. He blogs about historical true crime at Murder by Gaslight (www.murderbygaslight.com) and The National Night Stick (www.night-stick.com). Robert lives a fine, upstanding life in the city of Boston, Massachusetts.