Toxic Wives : Murder, Media and the Poison Panic in America.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Seifert, Christine.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women poisoners--United States--Case studies.

Women poisoners.

Women murderers--United States--Case studies.

Women murderers.

Husbands--Crimes against--Case studies.

Husbands.

Poisoning--United States--History.

Poisoning.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (196 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Jefferson : McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers, 2023.

Summary:

"In the latter half of the 1800s, widespread suspicion and anxiety emerged when wives of all ages and social status were accused of killing their husbands with poison. However, what seemed like a massive spike in murderous wives across the United Kingdom and United States may not have been a spike at all, but rather a poison panic caused by hungry newspapers and mass hysteria. This work explores the stories of several high-profile cases of women on trial for murdering their husbands with poison. Lust, money and power were often central to the accusations, and the sensational news coverage set off a century-long witch hunt. No woman was safe from suspicion during this untold chapter in the history of true crime."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Cover

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Part I. Panic Rising

1. She Won't Get Away with Murder

2. Arsenic, the Wonder Powder

3. True Crimetainment

Part II. An American Poison Epidemic

4. Poison Wives in America (1835-1846)

5. A Changing America (1849-1871)

6. Murder in the Gilded Age (1870-1902)

7. Murder in the Second City (1911-1923)

Conclusion: What Happened to the Poison Wife?

Chapter Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version: Seifert, Christine Toxic Wives

ISBN:

9781476649313

OCLC:

1371143446