A review by hooliaquoolia
Bringing Down the Colonel: A Sex Scandal of the Gilded Age, and the Powerless Woman Who Took on Washington by Patricia Miller

5.0

WOW. Didn't go into this with many expectations, just thought it would be a dry historical read (which I love, but from a different place in my heart), but this is hits SO MANY WICKETS for me: a Victorian-era sex scandal working its way through the American legal system, with ruined women and society attitudes just as much on trial as the (male, white, rich) defendant. This is a nonfiction version of a sensation novel. It is amazing in its dedication not just to the court case at the center of the book, but for its portraits of all the remarkable women in its orbit. Did y'all know that the first sexual harassment scandal in Congress was in the 19TH CENTURY??? This shit is not new and any man who whines about how women are SUDDENLY demanding unreasonable accommodations needs to read this book--we've been asking for basic dignity since TIME IMMEMORIAL, you dumbasses!

HIGHLY RECOMMEND for women's history month!! The narrator was excellent and she did just the right amount of acting for the voices to keep me immersed in the story. Truly can't recommend this enough.