Author Description

Review Not only for Bay Area history buffs, Alice will enlighten all readers to early shifts in gender roles and societal correlations today.-- "Literary Hub" Skillfully contextualized by the editors, Alice demonstrates the power of the press in the Progressive era to rouse diverse communities into public sphere debate and political activism...Should be essential reading for anyone interested in the rich history of sexual commerce in the United States.-- "Gretchen Soderlund, author of Sex Trafficking, Scandal, and the Transformation of Journalism, 1885-1917" With its unflinching honesty, the political relevance of Alice's story and analysis resonates today. By speaking out from 'the underground, ' Alice's narrative predicts contemporary San Francisco sex worker discourse, motivating political action against all odds. An important book.-- "Carol Leigh, artist, author, filmmaker, and sex workers' rights activist" Product Description The collected memoirs of a 1913 San Francisco sex worker, their effect on society at the time, and where they fit in today's world In 1913 the San Francisco Bulletin published a serialized, ghostwritten memoir of a prostitute who went by Alice Smith. "A Voice from the Underworld" detailed Alice's humble Midwestern upbringing and her struggle to find aboveboard work, and candidly related the harrowing events she endured after entering "the life." While prostitute narratives had been published before, never had they been as frank in their discussion of the underworld, including topics such as abortion, police corruption, and the unwritten laws of the brothel. Throughout the series, Alice strongly criticized the society that failed her and so many other women, but, just as acutely, she longed to be welcomed back from the margins. The response to Alice's story was unprecedented: four thousand letters poured into the Bulletin, many of which were written by other prostitutes ready to shar