American Eve: Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White, the Birth of the It Girl, and the Crime of the Century » (Bargain)

Paula Uruburu is chair of the English Department at Hofstra University. Considered an expert on Evelyn Nesbit and the time period, she has been widely published and has appeared or consulted on A&E's Biography, PBS's History Detectives, and various series for the History Channel.

The scandalous story of America's first supermodel, sex goddess, and modern celebrity—Evelyn Nesbit.

By the time of her sixteenth birthday in 1900, Evelyn Nesbit was known to millions as the most photographed woman of her era, an iconic figure who set the standard for female beauty, and whose innocent sexuality was used to sell everything from chocolates to perfume. Women wanted to be her. Men just wanted her. But when Evelyn's life of fantasy became all too real and her insanely jealous millionaire husband, Harry K. Thaw, murdered her lover, New York City architect Stanford White, the most famous woman in the world became infamous as she found herself at the center of the “Crime of the Century” and a scandal that signaled the beginning of a national obsession with youth, beauty, celebrity, and sex.

Philip Lopate

Wonderfully absorbing . . . A lurid tabloid story of yore brought to fresh life and relevance with remarkable insight, verve and wisdom. Old New York is laid bare in all its decadence and the cult of pubescent beauty traced to its source, all with worldliness, wit, humor, compassion, and suspense. The result is a real page-turner. (Philip Lopate, author of Waterfront: A Walk Around Manhattan and Writing New York)

Introduction The Garden of the New World 1

Ch. 1 Siren Song 7

Ch. 2 Beautiful City of Smoke 21

Ch. 3 Poses 31

Ch. 4 The Little Sphinx in Manhattan 53

Ch. 5 Florodora 79

Ch. 6 Benevolent Vampire 97

Ch. 7 Through the Looking Glass 131

Ch. 8 At the Feet of Diana 145

Ch. 9 The Barrymore Curse 163

Ch. 10 Enter Mad Harry 177

Ch. 11 The Worst Mistake of Her Life 205

Ch. 12 The "Mistress of Millions" 249

Ch. 13 Curtains: June 25, 1906 269

Ch. 14 Aftershock 289

Ch. 15 Dementia Americana 303

Ch. 16 A Woman's Sacrifice 317

Ch. 17 America's Pet Murderer 357

Epilogue: The Fallen Idol 367

Notes 375

Further Reading 387