Overview
A lively exploration of the struggles faced by women in law enforcement and mystery fiction for the past 175 years In 1910, Alice Wells took the oath to join the all-male Los Angeles Police Department. She wore no uniform, carried no weapon, and kept her badge stuffed in her pocketbook. She wasn't the first or only policewoman, but she became the movement's most visible voice. Police work from its very beginning was considered a male domain, far too dangerous and rough for a respectable woman to even contemplate doing, much less take on as a profession. A policewoman worked outside the home, walking dangerous city streets late at night to confront burglars, drunks, scam artists, and prostitutes. To solve crimes, she observed, collected evidence, and used reason and logic-traits typically associated with men. And most controversially of all, she had a purpose separate from her husband, children, and home. Women who donned the badge faced harassment and discrimination. It would take more than seventy years for women to enter the force as full-fledged officers. Yet within the covers of popular fiction, women not only wrote mysteries but also created female characters that handily solved crimes. Smart, independent, and courageous, these nineteenth- and early twentieth-century female sleuths (including a healthy number created by male writers) set the stage for Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, Sara Paretsky's V. I. Warshawski, Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta, and Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone, as well as TV detectives such as Prime Suspect's Jane Tennison and Law and Order's Olivia Benson. The authors were not amateurs dabbling in detection but professional writers who helped define the genre and competed with men, often to greater success. Pistols and Petticoats tells the story of women's very early place in crime fiction and their public crusade to transform policing. Whether real or fictional, investigating women were nearly always at odds with society. Most women refused to let that stop them, paving the way to a modern professional life for women on the force and in popular culture.
Full Product Details
Author: Erika Janik
Publisher: Beacon Press
Imprint: Beacon Press
Dimensions:
Width: 16.00cm
, Height: 2.30cm
, Length: 23.60cm
Weight: 0.526kg
ISBN: 9780807039380
ISBN 10: 0807039381
Pages: 248
Publication Date: 26 April 2016
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
An entertaining history of women s daring, defiant life choices. Kirkus Reviews Erika Janik does a fine job tracing the history of women in police work while at the same time describing the role of females in crime fiction. The outcome, with a memorable gallery of characters, is a rich look at the ways in which fact and fiction overlap, reflecting the society surrounding them. A treat for fans of the mystery and who isn t? Katherine Hall Page, Agatha-Award winning mystery writer Fiction and reality meet and mingle in this fascinating work of cultural history. Who are the great female detectives in literature? Who were their historical precedents? How did they make their way in a predominantly male world, whether we re talking about the Pinkerton Detective Agency in 1861 or the S.V.U. on NBC? The best study of this hugely popular genre that I have ever read. William Martin, New York Times bestselling author of Back Bay and The Lincoln Letter
Praise for Marketplace of the Marvelous: Erika Janik s survey of alternative therapies hums with strange ideas and even odder characters. Kate Tuttle, The Boston Globe Janik suggests that the most serious iatrogenic threats to health came not from her fascinating cast of irregulars but from the dangerous heroic remedies practised by orthodox practitioners: excessive bleeding and (over) dosing their patients with strong mineral drugs. Helen Bynum, The Lancet [Janik] makes a good case that any sensible person in the 19th century could have taken these alternative systems seriously. The therapeutic options of ordinary doctors were pretty limited For most conditions, a patient might be at least as well off with a herbalist, hydropathist or homoeopathist. William Bynum, The Wall Street Journal
Erika Janik does a fine job tracing the history of women in police work while at the same time describing the role of females in crime fiction. The outcome, with a memorable gallery of characters, is a rich look at the ways in which fact and fiction overlap, reflecting the society surrounding them. A treat for fans of the mystery and who isn t? Katherine Hall Page, Agatha-Award winning mystery writer
An entertaining history of women s daring, defiant life choices. Kirkus Reviews Erika Janik does a fine job tracing the history of women in police work while at the same time describing the role of females in crime fiction. The outcome, with a memorable gallery of characters, is a rich look at the ways in which fact and fiction overlap, reflecting the society surrounding them. A treat for fans of the mystery and who isn t? Katherine Hall Page, Agatha-Award winning mystery writer
Author Information
Erika Janik is an award-winning writer, historian, and the executive producer of Wisconsin Life on Wisconsin Public Radio. She's the author of five previous books, including Marketplace of the Marvelous- The Strange Origins of Modern Medicine. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
