Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century

Jen2

The Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century | Simon Baatz

pick

Good story with some very interesting turns!

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FairyHighRoad

Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century | Simon Baatz

pick

I first heard of the trial of Harry Thaw on My Favorite Murder and Criminal podcasts. Thaw murdered Stanford White for allegedly raping his wife, Evelyn Nesbit, when she was 16. Was this a justified killing or did Thaw have even darker secrets in his own closet? Baatz provides details into Thaw's trial and the aftermath. Evelyn becomes a bit of a side character and I wish more information regarding her was in the story. #mfm

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OrangeMooseReads

Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century | Simon Baatz

pick

Finished this while #audiocrafting yesterday. Loved the beginning disliked the end. It became much less about Evelyn Nesbit and more completely about Harry Thaw. The story is interesting but I was expecting more about Evelyn and her life, but I guess you go with the more interesting story right. It‘s worth the read/listen. I was just disappointed in the story shift.

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OrangeMooseReads

Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century | Simon Baatz

This is an interesting bit of New York society history. It is also infuriating, no matter what women are rarely believed. 🤬

Crazeedi I know I read a book about Evelyn, it had her mother in it as a domineering presence, and what she did to Evelyn to get fame and money. I'm trying to remember the title, I think it may have been a fictionalized version...it started in her childhood and on to the NYC stuff... (edited) 6y

OrangeMooseReads @Crazeedi yeah the author of this one just kind of grazed over the relationship she had with her mother and focus on the relationships Evelyn had with White and Thaw. What they do mention about her mother isn‘t in a good light. 6y

Crazeedi @OrangeMooseReads now I'm going to have to search back and find the one I read, it was crazy, I hope it's in my Goodreads "read" list. I'll let you know 6y

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OrangeMooseReads @Crazeedi yeah I would be interested to read it. 😊 6y

Crazeedi @OrangeMooseReads I have searched and so far no luck😒 I'm going to keep thinking about it etc, it might come to me...you know when you just have read too many books?! NOT!!😉 6y

OrangeMooseReads @Crazeedi lol the answer always comes at the oddest times too. I‘ll have to do an amazon search or something to see what is out there about her. 6y

Lcsmcat I might need to read this. She‘s a minor character in the tagged novel, which was the first I‘d heard of her.

Ragtime: A Novel

OrangeMooseReads @Lcsmcat YES! That‘s where I first heard of her and the whole Thaw/White incident that this book revolves around. Ragtime is a fantastic book. 6y

Lcsmcat @OrangeMooseReads I loved it too! And the musical, which is pretty true to the book. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CCzfQ935CXc&list=PLluN7It9P5lV75Kl1aZMpt6tQ6V0QM1j... 6y

Crazeedi @OrangeMooseReads I'm still searching and pondering and now I'm a bit grumpy, I know the book started out with her and her mom very poor, and someone saw the little girl and offered to take photos of her and somehow they ended up in nyc and her photos became famous. I'm thinking it was a fictional acct 6y

Crazeedi @OrangeMooseReads and it might not even have used her real name?? I'm just at that point that I should KNOW DARN IT! 6y

OrangeMooseReads @Lcsmcat I haven‘t seen the musical but have heard of it. 6y

OrangeMooseReads @Crazeedi lol I know what you mean. Hmmm .... 6y

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msford88

Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century | Simon Baatz

pick

I've been on a nonfiction kick, and this was one of my recent reads. It's a fast, interesting book that sheds light on the darker side of one of America's most heralded architects, Stanford White. From a chance encounter to cold-blooded murder, Baatz details a largely forgotten saga of lust and lunacy.

OrangeMooseReads I just loaded this one for my next audio read 6y

Reviewsbylola I read a different book on this case but it‘s been awhile. 6y

Clare-Dragonfly The podcast Criminal did an interesting multi-part episode on the murder story. 6y

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WanderingBookaneer

Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century | Simon Baatz

Curious about this U.S. #KindleDailyDeal as Evelyn Nesbitt was L. M. Montgomery‘s inspiration for Anne Shirley‘s looks.
https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Velvet-Swing-Madness-Twentieth-ebook/dp/B072BV65JB/r...

Mdargusch I did not know that. Very interesting. I liked this book. 👍🏼 6y

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nicole742

Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century | Simon Baatz

Birthdays are great excuses to buy books. #extendedbirthday

5 likes

Amie

The Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century | Simon Baatz

pan

This was going to be a so-so rating but then epilogue happened. I would like to rant about the details, but the short version is that the author said some ignorant thing about rape (which is a key part of this nonfiction story) and so I have no desire to recommend this book in any way.

DivineDiana Thank you for letting us know! Will definitely skip this one! 7y

Sandsing7 I thought that too! There was no need for that. 7y

readinginthedark 🤢😔 7y

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Amie

The Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century | Simon Baatz

Listening to this and it mentions that a person attended The University of Wooster located in Western Ohio, which caught my attention because I grew up near Wooster which is in NORTHEASTERN Ohio. I thought the name of the school was wrong too because it's now The College of Wooster, but I did a little research and found out that was the name used at the time. Still wrong location though which makes me a bit sceptical of the author's research.

DivineDiana Artistic license, perhaps? 7y

Amie @DivineDiana it's nonfiction so no room for artistic license in my opinion (although that's not always the reality) 😀 7y

Kaye I had to look this up. Wooster is 30 minutes from us. Yep, Wooster College opened in 1870, with 34 students ( 4 were female ). They had 5 teachers. Name was later changed to College of Wooster. http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/College_of_Wooster. Not sure if they called it Wooster University at any point or not. (edited) 7y

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Amie @Kaye yep I found that website too and there's a little history on the school's website also. It's fun that I learned a little something about my local history because of a book that basically has nothing to do with Ohio except this one mention. 7y

Kaye Yea, I haven‘t read that book but one about the same case I think. Was it the Hollywood director who was murdered ? William Desmond Taylor ? Just guessing, since I‘ve not read this book. Surprising they‘d mention Wooster, isn‘t it ? 7y

Amie @Kaye This one's about the murder of Stanford White, the architect who designed Madison Square Garden, and there are connections to the theater world in New York. Wooster was mentioned because another guy involved in this went to school there (and got expelled). It was just a passing mention when it was talking about his background. 7y

Kaye Oh. Well crikey. I‘ve been passing up a book thinking it was about the Hollywood murder. I read that book years ago. Thanks. Now I can check this out. I‘ve only read snippets about this story. 7y

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Mdargusch

The Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century | Simon Baatz

pick

This was a fascinating look at the murder of the famous architect Stanford White by millionaire Harry Thaw. It was a story of revenge - Thaw‘s wife, Evelyn Nesbit, had supposedly been raped as a teenager by White. Following is a tale of mental illness, an escape from a mental institution, drug addiction, and a suicide attempt. Tragically, Evelyn and Harry‘s life followed a downward spiral after the murder. For historical true crime fans!

emilyhaldi I would borrow this if my tbr stack wasn't sky high! 7y

Cinfhen Sounds really good 7y

BiblioLitten Nice description! Makes you want to read it right now. 7y

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LeahBergen This sounds good 👍🏻 7y

TommieMarie74 This is on my #TBR. I‘m excited to read it! 7y

Mdargusch Thanks @BiblioLitten 😁 7y

Reviewsbylola Ok stacking this! 7y

Reviewsbylola You read that quickly! 7y

Mdargusch It‘s a quick read @Reviewsbylola 7y

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LibrarianRenee

Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century | Simon Baatz

Completely fascinating. I never heard of this scandal.

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GerardtheBookworm

Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century | Simon Baatz

pick

One of the biggest 'crime of the century' and the inspiration for the historical novel and musical Ragtime, the Thaw-white murder case was a media circus and made a reality celebrity of teen model and Vaudeville chorus girl, Evelyn Nesbit. Filled with salacious details of the time and a true crime of passion, this is one nonfiction that is highly entertaibing.

6 likes

Kmmsellers

The Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century | Simon Baatz

so-so

I found the first half of this book fascinating and timely. I was surprised that I had heard so little about this story before. The next section of the book dragged as it focuses more on Nesbit‘s husband and his many legal hearings. It felt repetitive. In the end, the author brought it back to Evelyn and showed the significance of the story and the ways that powerful men use and abuse women.

rubyslippersreads All I really know about this story is from the musical "Ragtime." I put this book on hold at the library; I'll at least read the Evelyn parts. 7y

Kmmsellers @rubyslippersreads That‘s all I knew about it too. It was really interesting. I listened on audio, so I wonder if the legal section wouldn‘t have been so tedious if I had been reading so I could skim when necessary. Still a fascinating story. 7y

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Kmmsellers

The Girl on the Velvet Swing: Sex, Murder, and Madness at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century | Simon Baatz

I took advantage of our snow day yesterday and was lazy most of the day. I have to get some things done today, so I started a new audiobook to get me motivated. This one is fascinating so far.

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