Some Awfully Tame but Kinda Funny Stories about Early Dakota Ladies-of-the-Evening

by Bruce Carlson

Dakota Ladies-of-the-Evening is a book about those girls back around the turn of the century who practiced that age-old profession. This isn't a book of passion, lust or heavy breathing. It's simply a collection of stories about incidents, situations, and people of a couple generations ago. These aren't profound stories of historical significance or cosmic importance.

172 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1992

Reviews

[Myriah · Rating 3 out of 5]

My fingers were absolutely itching to take a red pen to these pages and edit, edit, oh for god's sake EDIT this book. Between the typos and misspelled words, the repetition, and the completely unnecessary extraneous commentary, it almost wasn't worth it ,but the book was saved by the delightful and entertaining nature of these stories about the "soiled doves" of the Old West. It really is a fun read, but boy did he need an editor (or three) to look this over prior to its publication.

[Tiffany L · Rating 5 out of 5]

There were a lot of really cute stories in this book!!

[Raquel · Rating 1 out of 5]

What I had hoped for was some researched stories and insight into the lives of women in the late 1800s and early 1900s who worked in "the oldest profession." These would have been some of the first European women in the area as the push west continued. How did they enter the profession? Who were their clientele? What were their daily lives like? Instead of answering these questions, this book tells urban legends and tall tales vaguely related to the field of prostitution. Oftentimes, the stories don't even concern "ladies of the evening" as the main characters. All the stories are told in the slightly obnoxious voice of the male writer who honestly doesn't even attempt to humanize the women of this time and industry. Honestly, the author (not so) low-key denigrates the women this book is supposed to be about by calling them "soiled doves" and mentioning how no "honest" company would want to be around them. A real compassionate take on women who were likely forced into that work under duress and desperate circumstances. The text also includes random artwork that does NOT relate to the stories being told and is never even credited within the book. I realize this is independently published, but this sets a supremely low bar even for that. If I could give it zero stars, I certainly would. The "ladies of the evening" deserve better than this hot garbage.

[Mikaela Wiley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really fascinating account of a side of history that’s rarely talked about. I’d recommend this to anyone to read, the author does a great job of capturing you into the story, making you feel you are will these ladies as they’re going about their lives.

[Cody · Rating 2 out of 5]

This should have been a much better book than it turned out to be. I suspect that it is pure folktale if not outright fiction. The "folksy" narration seemed inauthentic and not useful in advancing the collection of short stories.

[Randi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great catalogue of oral history. Some of the stories might be a little far-fetched, and whose to say they haven't been stretched a little over the years? They're entertainment as well as history. I loved it.