Wicked New Hampshire

by Renee Mallett

Behind New Hampshire's scenic landscape lies some very dark history, ranging from horrible hangings to scandalous socialites. The Fireman's Riot of 1869 resulted in most of Manchester burning to the ground. New England's largest rumrunning gang was finally prosecuted due to an overdue library book. Madame Sherri so scandalized the Chesterfield area at the turn of the century that she now has a state park named after her. Author Renee Mallett reveals the surprising and sometimes shocking history from the Seacoast to the Great North Woods.

128 pages, Paperback

Published September 14, 2020

Reviews

[Aimee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I think this is a fun starting off point if someone wants to get into the darker side of New Hampshire history and hasn’t read many other books. For me, it was a lot of rehashing of books I’d already read that went a lot deeper (and it looks like she used many of those books in her research!) My only gripes are that some of the stories went more in-depth on tales from other states (NY, ME) and it didn’t have a lot of the photos I wanted to see. None of the mysterious egg-shaped rock and, for some reason, a picture of Stonehenge, but none of “America’s Stonehenge” which the chapter was about. I ended up doing a lot of image searches to see what the author was talking about!

[Teresa Coville · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, interesting stories of New Hampshire. Renee Mallett spins a lovely tale of wicked historic tales.

[Jim Castine · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a super NH history geek, I loved this book. So much insight on a lot of events and characters I knew a little about, but no where near the entire story. Great, quick read

[Christine Metcalf · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned some things about local history and it was a quick fun read. However, I wish there were more details and the stories went more in-depth.

[Elyse · Rating 4 out of 5]

New Hampshire born and raised and still living so this was a fun little foray into New Hampshire's sordid history. I knew about some but did not know about others. I've never been to the Isle of Shoals, I'm on the Vermont side. I liked the photos that Mallett took herself.