Upstairs Girls: Prostitution in the American West

by Michael Rutter

Prostitutes make up one of the most engaging chapters in the story of the American West. Upstairs Girls opens a window on the lives of these women for hire. Historian Michael Rutter offers a thorough and fascinating history of prostitution in the West, with details on why women turned to this profession and what their lives were like. Chapters on the notorious madams, the tragic Chinese sex trade, occupational hazards, rowdy dancehall girls, and the efforts of the ''Moral Purity Movement'' supplement the heart-breaking and sometimes humorous profiles on some of the most famous madams and prostitutes in history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Historical, Feminism, American History, Sexuality, Biography

235 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Michael Rutter has authored or co-authored nearly 40 books and 600 articles for magazines and newspapers. He was awarded the Ben Franklin Award for Outdoor Writing and the Rocky Mountain Book Publishers Association Award. Michael teaches advanced writing at Brigham Young University. He is also a Christa McAuliffe Fellow.

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read a few books about the Old West and thought this looked interesting. The topic was, but the book wasn't. It read like a college paper: "Next I'm going to talk about..." which drove me crazy when I was teaching freshmen comp. There was a lot of repetition and, worse, it appears there was no proofreader. The text contains these doozies:
"...which was a cause for alarm among many concerned women, especially women."
"More than one prostitute was beaten to death, then robbed and turned out on the street with hardly more than the clothes on her back."
"...attempts would be made to make the her vomit up the overdose..."
"Most women were little more than chattel in his own country."
There were lots of other errors, like "$20 dollars," "a women," and so on.
And if I never hear the expression "soiled dove" again, it will be too soon.

[Jenny Lovering · Rating 3 out of 5]

The information was interesting...but the writing was repetitive and choppy to the point of annoying.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a whole lot that's good about this book. Who writes a mass market book about such a relatively obscure (read: fascinating!) subject? Long passages lend context at the start of each section. Details about railroad camps and a larger sense of Chinese immigration pre-Chinese Exclusion Act were impressive. The chapter on occupational hazards, most notably venereal disease, both fascinated me and had me squirming in my chair (with enchantingly grotesque photos!). There's definitely a lot to learn between the covers of this title.

However, having read another of Rutter's books, Bad Girls, it was clear there was a fair amount of overlap in the last section of the book, that profiled various madams and prostitutes. Some of these profiles were fascinating, shocking, and sad—but many of the woman were only tangentially involved in prostitution, and their profile only seemed to mention that aspect in passing. If Bad Girls had been written first, I would accuse Rutter of repackaging his material—but in fact, Bad Girls was the repackaging of the material in here.

As the book uses a lot of quotes or mentions arguments by specific historians without mentioning names in the text, I would really like some footnotes in the book. I suspect a lot of the readers of this title are armchair historians who are old west buffs, I'm surprised there aren't more sources named. If these people are anything like me, they'll want to know precisely where that newspaper article quoting Big Nose Kate came from, so if they're working on their own projects, it will help them with their own research.

There's also the use of language. There are folksy sayings sprinkled throughout the book that interrupted my reading, where the voice is switched just for a fraction of a sentence. For example, one place where he points out a pun in a clunky way before the pun has actually taken place. The text also seems to try and use as many adjectives for "prostitute" or "brothel" as possible—if the reader isn't familiar, this can interrupt the flow of reading as well. I wondered if maybe he had a list of all the adjectives when he was writing, and whenever he referred to a prostitute he would consult the list to use a different term. When I discovered the glossary at the back—which consists almost solely of adjectives for prostitutes—I knew I couldn't be too far off.

Despite the above, this is a fascinating, under-reported subject, so I really did enjoy the book very much!

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid "does what says on tin" sort of book. A good overview of the history as well as some of the key personalities.

[Joyce K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Women were scarce on the early Western landscape." This introductory line in Michael Rutter's book invites the reader to believe that the scarce commodity is prized, valued, and expensive. The backstory is sorrowful. Scathing, down-and-dirty, raunchy and gut-wrenching are some of the descriptive words describing the social status of women in the "ole West." Female companionship should be valued and treasured since it is in short supply, especially in the early days of development when the land was clean and free and available. Some men came to mold the barren, wild earth into their own idea of freedom, but mostly the human male came for gold, lots of it. The quicker the better. Females got in the way - a temporary diversion, replaceable and of little value.
Rutter descriptive use of female dalliance aptly captures life for women in the early, developing days of the Southwest. It's an engaging read with legendary characters.

[TheGriffinReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with other reviewers here. The writing is repetitive and choppy. And there are some notable exceptions from the research regarding children of prostitutes.

Still, the asides to outlaws, noted historical figures, photos, and added features give the book sufficient interest for a novice reader.

I assume that others have made more extensive research regarding the history and practice of prostitution and, if interested, this may not be your best resource. It's a good place to start, though. With its narrow focus, just the American West from 1840 to 1900, and our modern Western genre film traditions, it should appeal to lovers of the Old West who already know that gunfighters were not nearly as common as fiction would have us believe and serve as a reminder that the "hooker with a heart of gold" is a myth based on a brutal reality.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as part of my research for a writing project I'm working on, and found it a really interesting read. I love history and enjoyed reading about the old west. The book goes over the life of woman prostitutes in the west - how they got there, why they got into that work (mostly poverty and a lack of other options as life was very limited for women)and all the dangers they encountered. The part I found most interesting was the personal accounts of ten well-known madams and "soiled doves," as they were called, including Calamity Jane. Many were close to famous outlaws like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, as well as famous figures like Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp, and Wild Bill Hickok. It was a crazy, open ended time. The book oddly paralleled what I learned about Chinese courtesans in Amy Tan's The Valley of Amazement.

[Ericka · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book told a fascinating history of women in the frontier west and why so many either chose or simply ended up in prostitution. Even the town I live in was mentioned and I asked my Mom if they got it right. Everyone knew where the brothel was back in the 40s and 50s and earlier. When the Pill came along many of the shops were closed down because wives and girlfriends could now put out without fear of pregnancy. Kind of weird to think that one little thing like that would change so much.

[Hayley Stone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not great. Highly anecdotal, and would have benefited significantly from footnotes. The lack of citing made me skeptical about many of the claims the author makes.

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good history book. Well written and an easy read. Excellent source on an area neglected by most history books. Very recommended

[Yi]

Make POV was obvious. These women were multi-dimensional, but it seemed like Rutter wanted to hew to the expected salacious narrative. He has a few other books out about the women of the Wild West, and I’m feeling kind of meh about pursuing them, but it’s obvious he put in his research.

[Violette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great information but such poor writing! This is a history book yet the author uses such statements as "It is obvious to people that..." or "As any student of history should know..." He is often repetitive and displays a lack of experience writing non-fiction. A pet peeve was the misspelling of actress Lillie Langtry's name as "Lily." Overall though, I would recommend it because I learned a lot and it was an interesting read. He clearly loves the subject matter and Old West folklore - it comes across - but the writing...::shudder::

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah, the role of women in Old West. The very few respectable women were treated like minor goddesses... the rest of the women who earned their bread through less legal and savory means were often mistreated and abused quite harshly. The law never came to their aid and once their looks were gone, few choices were to be had. The suicide rate was very high.

This book was reasonably well written and I like the way it was broken into small chapters so one could "digest" the contents slowly if one wished to. Worthy of the time spent reading it.

[Diane Lybbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting study of prostitution in the old west. Brothels followed the men moving west to find gold, men moving cattle, railroad workers, soldiers, and bandits/gamblers. There were several 'classes' of prostitutes, from the top girls working in high-dollar houses featuring food and drink as well as 'entertainment' to the bottom tier with girls walking the streets. There were also several short biographies of some of the 'soiled doves' such as Big Nose Kate, Pearl Starr (daughter of Belle Starr), Ah Toy, Poker Alice, and (yes) Calamity Jane. It was an interesting and easy read.

[Launa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Rutter gives an excellent history lesson of the wild west. History about some of the most notorious madams and their girls. Famous outlaws and gunslingers and the women they loved. It gives you an understanding of why and how women entered the "world's oldest profession". I felt much heartache and sadness as I read some of the stories, but there are other parts that will make you laugh. Interesting facts and fascinating stories if you like history and the wild west.

[Amber Ray · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book never really got into very good detail. It gives several biographies of notable shady ladies, but they all feel rather rushed and incomplete.

This book has a fascinating subject, but it never really gives enough information on what made these women go into such a hellish profession, what their lives were really like and what happened to the ones who didn't die of drugs, murder or suicide....did any find "honest" jobs after?

[Po · Rating 2 out of 5]

The information should be interesting but the delivery is terrible and redundant. The same euphemisms get tossed around making everything seem very repetitive. There are definitely some interesting characters mentioned but nothing feels cohesive or natural about the structure of the narrative that it became a chore to read. On the bright side there is a glossary that includes a whole slew of ways to say prostitute and brothel.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great nonfiction read. Little information though on letters from women, but then I can see how this would have been hard to find. This is one of the better books on the subject and leaves out all that folksy crap, moves away from the cliches and delves into some fascinating madams who were politically and progressively way more ahead of their times then most men.

[Callie Ludwig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was full of intriguing information on the history of prostitution in the American west. I found the explanation of the brothel hierarchy especially interesting and learned much more about the horrors of the Chinese sex trade. For me, the best parts of the book were the well-chosen biographies of the most famous prostitutes and madams that worked the frontier.

[Joanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good behind-the-scenes stories of the wild west, all revolving around the prostitutes of the times. Most of them are only known to history because of their association with famous outlaws, so there's some good dirt on famous wild west men here too.

[Ann Kuhn · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is so badly written I can't read it. It's very possible that this is a freshman's term paper. Too bad--such an interesting socio-economic cultural phenomenon. Should I have known from the title that it would be insulting? The author uses the word "girls" throughout the book.

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the information in this book, but it read like an undergrad history paper, in a bad way. It still needed some editing for punctuation and flow. And definitely a star knocked off for using "insure" instead of "ensure."

[Debbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really good read on how a lot of the women became prostitutes after being widowed or just life circumstances. It was not an easy life for them and they were shunned for doing what they had to do to survive. A lot of the died from sickness and suicide.

[Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subject matter in this book and it's focus was really interesting. The writing itself was lacking, but I was able to get past that. The author was obviously passionate and the subject was well-researched. It just could've used another round of edits, so it felt a bit clunky.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

History just keeps repeating itself in another setting. From ancient Rome to the Wild, Wild West, until now women enter prostitution for a variety of reasons, mostly poverty and lack of work skills.
Interesting read.

[J.M.]

Recommended for me by Amazon based on my previous purchases.

[Alycia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting look at prostitution out west. I couldn't put it down.

[Brita · Rating 2 out of 5]

some interesting information in here but as others have mentioned, this was not a well written book.

[Logan · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOVING THIS BOOK. After staying for two weeks at 'the brothel' in Helper, Utah, it is interesting to learn some of the real history of prostitution in the early American West.

[Ago · Rating 3 out of 5]

Agree with other reviews. Interesting subject-matter, poorly written.