A review by lizdesole
The Fall of the House of Walworth: A Tale of Madness and Murder in Gilded Age America by Geoffrey O'Brien

2.0

I was disappointed with this book. It actually had little to do with the potentially interesting story of the murder and much to do with the demise of this supposedly illustrious NY political family. So much time was spent on the boring details of the victims father. But the greatest missed opportunity was in the glossing over of the widow's life. She was actually a fascinating almost Zelig like character for the turn of the century women's movement. Ellen Hardin Walworth was one of the first women elected to a board of education. That's right, she was an elected official prior to even having the vote. She was a founder of the DAR . She presented scientific papers before the leading science associations of the time and more. WHY wasn't the book mostly about her instead of her dusty judge father-in-law/ step grandfather (yup you read that right)