Rosa May: The Search for a Mining Camp Legend

by George Williams III

Biography. Later printing, trade paperback. Book near fine and clean, light corner bumps, flat signed by yhte author on the title page.

Genres: History

203 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

George J. Williams III

Reviews

[Aniko Kling · Rating 3 out of 5]

i really wanted to like this book. i went in thinking it would be a biography or some new info about. wrong. it was a slightly self absorbed account of the authors (failed) search for the illusive Rosa May. i would say 40% of the book is about Rosa May and 60% is about how hard he worked to try to find info/about his life.

aside from the lack of material, it was a difficult read. thoughts were hard to follow. timelines switched back and forth. some of the wording/phrasing was cringeworthy at best (yes i know it was written 40 years ago)

If it hadn’t have been for the personal letters and photos, i would have given it two stars, at best.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rosa May is an elusive figure. This book proves just how elusive. When you go to the California ghost town of Bodie, you learn a bit of legend and lore about Rosa. You can visit her grave in the cemetery. The author became very interested in her story while on a visit to the old mining town, almost obsessed.

The author tells a lot of his personal story in this book. So, it's not solely about Rosa May. He talks of his struggles in becoming a musician and the hard road to success. I didn't like this. Then there are a packet of letters that was owned by Rosa. These were letters written to her. There was also one very short note that was written by her. This note was taken to a couple of professional graphoanalysts (handwriting analysts) and a picture is painted of Rosa's early life, personality, and demeanor. While I don't discredit the science of handwriting analysis, I find it hard to swallow that we can come up with so much based on such a short note.

Of particular interest in this book is some research on what life for a prostitute and madam was like in the old American West. Nothing glamorous. Still, there is a bit of good Bodie history to be read here.

[Allan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed hearing about how the author learned about Rosa May. As someone who's done a little historical research it was very interesting to hear how the "sausage was made" in separating fact from fiction. He does rely a bit too much on some fishy sounding analysis of the handwriting in a short letter to fill in the blanks of Rosa's life, but it was the 70s and he ran out of resources. The amount of work he did to find out about an obscure figure in a tiny desert town is impressive. I loved the stories, the inclusion of the letters, and the context.

This book gives the reader a great understanding of both the history of prostitution in the old west and the imperfect ways we learn about history.

[Mick Meyers · Rating 3 out of 5]

a good read,well researched.the author also gives time to tell us about his life an auto biography inside a biography.it took him down a path of self discovery while writing this book,it took him away from music and into a different sphere.the life of Rosa a may at the end was I think still shrouded in a mist created by time clouding over traces of her life.his description of his time sat down by a river to eat a meal was very evocative.

[Karyl · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is very clear that the research that went into this book was a labor of love for George Williams III. That said, it was a somewhat difficult read. The prose was alternatively stilted, cliched, and ungrammatical, which made for an uncomfortable read. Mr Williams spent a good portion of the book describing his own experiences as he researched the life of Rosa May, a prostitute working in the heyday of the silver mining towns out west, and that too detracted from the main story. Opening the book with his discovery of Rosa May's tombstone worked to draw me in, but describing how he went about his research in chronological order left me struggling to continue reading. I would have much preferred to have a true biography of Rosa May, as much as could be written about a woman who didn't leave much behind her after her death in the early 1900s. However, this book did make me want to travel to California and Nevada to see a ghost town for myself.

[Synthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

We toured the ghost town Bodie this past summer. Very interesting place, so I wanted to pick a book from the gift shop where I could learn more Bodie history. Rosa May is one of the more known people who lived there late 1800's to early 1900's. Therefore, this book struck my attention. It's not as much about Bodie history as I'd hoped but interesting nonetheless. The author mainly explains about the research steps he took while trying to find out Rosa May's story... the woman who was buried in an outcast cemetery rather than in the main town cemetery. Some of my friends may be surprised to learn that I picked a book about a prostitute (which Rosa May was); however, it was very interesting to learn about the plight of prostitution during the "Wild West" time period , how young women got trapped into that life style back then, and the history of it becoming outlawed. (not R rated)

[The Irish Lass Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love history especially when it includes my home town of Carson City. I believe that Rosa's home in Carson ar 1 Ormsby (Curry) St. is still there as it is right next to Mary's About Face and Body where I go every week to deliver fresh eggs and get facials etc. Her business is in a house from the 1800's and the house next door is from the 1800's. It was exciting to find.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just had to look for this book while visiting Bodie on Aug. 3, 2012. I remembered reading it decades ago. It's terribly written, but a fascinating tale of a prostitute who worked well into her 50s in the gold-mining town of Bodie during its heyday.

[Candida · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. It was amazing to me how much research the author had actually done. Some of the books that have to do with Nevada history in particular are often times full of misspellings, and misinformation, but this one actually had some corrections of what was assumed as fact for years, and helped fill in the many gaps in the life of this lady.

[Robyn Dormois]

Information was good. Writing, not great.