Book Review

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to JAH online. About 226 words from this article are provided below; about 341 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the Organization of American Historians, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a member of the Organization of American Historians, you can:: • Join the OAH and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the Journal of American History.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two-hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Journal of American History (86.1-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Journal of American History.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

Book Review | The Journal of American History, 86.2 | The History Cooperative

The Murder of Helen Jewett: The Life and Death of a Prostitute in Nineteenth-Century New York. By Patricia Cline Cohen. (New York: Knopf, 1998. viii, 432 pp. $27.50, isbn 0-679-41291-3.)

In 1835, a prostitute wrote to one of her customers: "There is so much sweetness in that voice, so much intelligence in that eye, and so much luxuriance in that form, I cannot fail to love you." In reply, the man wrote that the warmth of love "causes our sparkling blood to o'erflow and mingle in holy delight." It was to be a passionate and stormy relationship, and the following year Helen Jewett was murdered at the age of twenty-three. Richard Robinson, a nineteen-year-old with fine prospects, was brought to trial. The crime became a national sensation. 1

Helen Jewett's elite clientele courted her with love letters and expensive gifts and read poetry with her. They bordered on the status of lovers but paid with cash. In Patricia Cline Cohen's analysis, such unconventional arrangements represented "commodified sex, wrapped in the romantic conventions of middle-class courtship." Both parties retained a measure of power, though it was the men, not the women, who were expected to be faithful. Cohen makes a fascinating case for Jewett's agency throughout the book, charting her self-representation and continual reinvention from rural Maine servant girl to New York City brothel-dweller. . . .

There are about 341 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.