Swindler, spy, rebel
Subtitle: the confidence woman in nineteenth-century America
By: Kathleen De Grave.
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Columbia
Language: eng
Number of pages: 270
Subjects: American prose literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism.; Swindlers and swindling -- United States -- History -- 19th century.; Women and literature -- United States -- History -- 19th century.; Alienation (Social psychology) in literature.; Swindlers and swindling in literature.; Female offenders in literature.; Women spies in literature.; Deception in literature.
Description: One would not expect a police officer to describe a criminal as "remarkable," "well worth knowing," or "excellent." Yet some did when their quarry was a confidence woman. Blackmailer, swindler, or pickpocket: the confidence woman could take any form.

Regardless of their different motives and tactics, confidence women have much in common, for they have long been misrepresented in American literature and culture. In Swindler, Spy, Rebel: The Confidence Woman in Nineteenth-Century America, Kathleen De Grave redresses the exaggerations and distortions by examining how the line between fact and fiction blurs.

Drawing from a variety of sources, such as memoirs, diaries, detective reports, newspaper accounts, and sociological studies written during the period, De Grave first presents a historical context.

By comparing the exploits of such women as "Chicago May" Churchill, "Big Bertha" Heyman, and Ellen Peck to those of fictional women who used the same strategies in noncriminal situations, De Grave broadens the definition of the confidence woman beyond criminality to include adventuresses, soldiers/spies, and "gold diggers." Next, she relates how the confidence woman appears in autobiographies and in fiction.

She further expands her argument to include the narrative devices of nineteenth-century women writers who used a kind of confidence game as a way to lure their readers into the text.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-262) and index.