The Wild Woman of Cincinnati - 9780807178720

The Wild Woman of CincinnatiGender and Politics on the Eve of the Civil War\nAuthor(s): Michael D. Pierson\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Louisiana State University Press, United States\nImprint: Louisiana State University Press\nISBN-13: 9780807178720, 978-0807178720\nSynopsis\nPopular entertainment in antebellum Cincinnati ran the gamut from high culture to shows barely above the level of the tawdry. Among the options for those seeking entertainment in the summer of 1856 was the display of a \""Wild Woman,\"" purportedly a young woman captured while living a feral life beyond the frontier. The popular exhibit, which featured a silent, underdressed woman chained to a bed, was almost assuredly a hoax. Local activist women, however, used their influence to prompt a judge to investigate the display. The court employed eleven doctors, who forcibly subdued and examined the woman before advising that she be admitted to an insane asylum.\n\nIn his riveting analysis of this remarkable episode .