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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
challenging
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
This book was recommended to me by someone in my Goodreads network. I'm so sorry that I can't recall who it was, but I'm very grateful you told me about it!
The five women Jack the Ripper murdered are profiled in this book. There are no gory details of the murders themselves, because that would make it more about him, and this book is specifically written for the women. It is a necessary book because even in the 1880s, fake news was shaping public opinion (yup - not a new political phenomenon post MAGA!). One of the five was a sex worker, and suddenly the news made all of them prostitutes, as if it made the murders more palatable (kind of like how young Black men killed by police are all "not so innocent," have criminal records, were "reaching" for a "gun," were mentally ill, looked threatening, were resisting, etc. - anything necessary to justify, or justify even more, the officer involved shooting).
The truth was, according to Rubenhold, that these were women who killed as crimes of opportunity. They were extremely vulnerable, and before they were victims of a depraved serial killer, they were victims of a systemized misogynist society. They were completely dependent on men, legally, for wages, shelter, clothing, food, etc. There was disease everywhere. The ones mentioned here include typhus, tuberculosis, scarlet fever, smallpox, and syphilis. These women were birthing up to eight children, with most of them dying from one of these diseases or being stillborn or miscarried. Compounding the deep grief and unavailability of compassion or gynecological and obstetrical medical care was the lack of clean drinking water made it so that most people were hydrating with one form of alcohol or another. Hence, all five of these women, though they started out much better off than when they died, all five were alcoholics, domestically abused, mentally delicate, and often homeless. They were among Victorian society's most vulnerable. Rubenhold tells us the lives of each of these women.
I'm not sure she accomplished her goal of restoring their dignity, but I am glad she set the record straight. They did not deserve to be killed as they were, simply because their plights made it easy for someone whose mind probably had a worm in it (if you are not sure what I'm talking about, Google RFK Jr - this is a jab at him).
Highly recommend!
The five women Jack the Ripper murdered are profiled in this book. There are no gory details of the murders themselves, because that would make it more about him, and this book is specifically written for the women. It is a necessary book because even in the 1880s, fake news was shaping public opinion (yup - not a new political phenomenon post MAGA!). One of the five was a sex worker, and suddenly the news made all of them prostitutes, as if it made the murders more palatable (kind of like how young Black men killed by police are all "not so innocent," have criminal records, were "reaching" for a "gun," were mentally ill, looked threatening, were resisting, etc. - anything necessary to justify, or justify even more, the officer involved shooting).
The truth was, according to Rubenhold, that these were women who killed as crimes of opportunity. They were extremely vulnerable, and before they were victims of a depraved serial killer, they were victims of a systemized misogynist society. They were completely dependent on men, legally, for wages, shelter, clothing, food, etc. There was disease everywhere. The ones mentioned here include typhus, tuberculosis, scarlet fever, smallpox, and syphilis. These women were birthing up to eight children, with most of them dying from one of these diseases or being stillborn or miscarried. Compounding the deep grief and unavailability of compassion or gynecological and obstetrical medical care was the lack of clean drinking water made it so that most people were hydrating with one form of alcohol or another. Hence, all five of these women, though they started out much better off than when they died, all five were alcoholics, domestically abused, mentally delicate, and often homeless. They were among Victorian society's most vulnerable. Rubenhold tells us the lives of each of these women.
I'm not sure she accomplished her goal of restoring their dignity, but I am glad she set the record straight. They did not deserve to be killed as they were, simply because their plights made it easy for someone whose mind probably had a worm in it (if you are not sure what I'm talking about, Google RFK Jr - this is a jab at him).
Highly recommend!
Extremely boring. Reads more like a textbook. It's obvious the author did her research and I was enlightened on a few things but I dreaded reading this.
emotional
informative
medium-paced
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2. History is not often the genre I read for fun, but nonetheless, that’s what book club chose for the month.
Was the most interesting book I’ve read? No, not in my opinion. However, I learned a lot about 19th century British life and the socialization of and roles that women had to fill, especially the limited position that poor and working class women are born into. And, I am extremely grateful I did not live in that are.
Rubenhold did an excellent job portraying the five women and letting their stories be heard beyond just being known as Jack the Ripper’s victims. As serial killers and true crime is often sensationalized, this helps bring it back to the fact that people, most often women, are impacted negatively and victimized.
Was the most interesting book I’ve read? No, not in my opinion. However, I learned a lot about 19th century British life and the socialization of and roles that women had to fill, especially the limited position that poor and working class women are born into. And, I am extremely grateful I did not live in that are.
Rubenhold did an excellent job portraying the five women and letting their stories be heard beyond just being known as Jack the Ripper’s victims. As serial killers and true crime is often sensationalized, this helps bring it back to the fact that people, most often women, are impacted negatively and victimized.
medium-paced
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
informative
sad
medium-paced