The Worst Woman in Sydney

The Worst Woman in Sydney
Author: Leigh Straw
Publisher: UNSW Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781742234793

Matriarch of the criminal underworld ... or the Robin Hood of inner Sydney? The legend of Kate Leigh, Sydney's famed brothel madam, sly grog seller and drug dealer, has loomed large in TV's Underbelly and every other account of Sydney's criminal history from the 1920s to the 1960s. But she has never had a biography of her own. Despite having more than 100 criminal convictions to her name, Kate Leigh is also remembered as a local hero, giving money to needy families and supporting her local community through the hard times of Depression and war. Here, novelist and historian Leigh Straw teases out the full story of how this wayward Reformatory girl from Dubbo made a fortune in eastern Sydney and defied the gender stereotyping of the time to become a leading underworld figure.

Angel Of Death

Angel Of Death
Author: Leigh Straw
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2019-06-01
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 1460710770

The newspapers called her 'Australia's most beautiful bad woman' and she was deadly to know... This is the story of 'pretty' Dulcie Markham, a key figure of the underworld of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, who, according to one crime reporter, 'saw more violence and death than any other woman in Australia's history'. Nicknamed the 'Black Widow' and 'Angel of Death' by the crooks, reporters and police who knew her best, Dulcie's lovers were stabbed and gunned down in the most violent years of Australian crime, the 1920s to the 1950s. Not always by her ... PRAISE 'For readers new to the history of this appalling yet enthralling era of organised crime, the book will simply astonish' Catie Gilchrist, author of Murder, Misadventure and Miserable Ends, Tales from a Colonial Coroner's Court

Men Who Hate Women

Men Who Hate Women
Author: Laura Bates
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2021-03-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1728236258

The first comprehensive undercover look at the terrorist movement no one is talking about. Men Who Hate Women examines the rise of secretive extremist communities who despise women and traces the roots of misogyny across a complex spider web of groups. It includes eye-opening interviews with former members of these communities, the academics studying this movement, and the men fighting back. Women's rights activist Laura Bates wrote this book as someone who has been the target of many hate-fueled misogynistic attacks online. At first, the vitriol seemed to be the work of a small handful of individual men... but over time, the volume and consistency of the attacks hinted at something bigger and more ominous. As Bates went undercover into the corners of the internet, she found an unseen, organized movement of thousands of anonymous men wishing violence (and worse) upon women. In the book, Bates explores: Extreme communities like incels, pick-up artists, MGTOW, Men's Rights Activists and more The hateful, toxic rhetoric used by these groups How this movement connects to other extremist movements like white supremacy How young boys are targeted and slowly drawn in Where this ideology shows up in our everyday lives in mainstream media, our playgrounds, and our government By turns fascinating and horrifying, Men Who Hate Women is a broad, unflinching account of the deep current of loathing toward women and anti-feminism that underpins our society and is a must-read for parents, educators, and anyone who believes in equality for women. Praise for Men Who Hate Women: "Laura Bates is showing us the path to both intimate and global survival."—Gloria Steinem "Well-researched and meticulously documented, Bates's book on the power and danger of masculinity should be required reading for us all."—Library Journal "Men Who Hate Women has the power to spark social change."—Sunday Times

Lillian Armfield

Lillian Armfield
Author: Leigh Straw
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2018-03-27
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 0733638112

An engaging account of an extraordinary, trailblazing woman - Australia's first female detective - LILLIAN ARMFIELD is also the vivid and gripping story of the origins of Sydney's organised crime underbelly. 'Special Constable' Lillian Armfield was policing Sydney's mean streets during some of the most dramatic years of crime in the city. By the late 1920s, eastern Sydney was the heartland of organised crime and the notorious turf battles known as the Razor Wars, where bloodied bodies were strewn across streets after late-night clashes between rival gangs. At first disapproved of by her male colleagues, and often working solo and undercover, Lillian investigated it all - from runaway girls, opium dens and back-street sly grog shops to drug trafficking, rape and murder. She dealt with the infamous crime figures of the day - Tilly Devine, Kate Leigh, 'Botany May' Smith and their associates - who eventually accorded Lillian a grudging respect. Lillian Armfield's life and achievements were extraordinary. She paved the way for the women of today's police force and her amazing story is also a compelling chapter in Australian true crime history.

The Worst Woman in Sydney

The Worst Woman in Sydney
Author: Leigh Straw
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2016-07-19
Genre:
ISBN: 9781525227288

Matriarch of the criminal underworld ... or the Robin Hood of inner Sydney? The legend of Kate Leigh, Sydney's famed brothel madam, sly grog seller and drug dealer, has loomed large in TV's Underbelly and every other account of Sydney's criminal history from the 1920s to the 1960s. But she has never had a biography of her own. Despite having more than 100 criminal convictions to her name, Kate Leigh is also remembered as a local hero, giving money to needy families and supporting her local community through the hard times of Depression and war. Here, novelist and historian Leigh Straw teases out the full story of how this wayward Reformatory girl from Dubbo made a fortune in eastern Sydney and defied the gender stereotyping of the time to become a leading underworld figure

Gangland Australia

Gangland Australia
Author: James Morton
Publisher: Victory Books
Total Pages: 498
Release: 2010
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 052285737X

Gangland Australia details the exploits of an unforgettable cast of villains, crooks and mobsters who have made up the criminal and gangland scene in Australia for over two centuries. In this fully updated and bestselling book, Britain's top true crime author James Morton and barrister and legal broadcaster Susanna Lobez track the rise and fall of Australia's talented contract killers, brothel keepers, club owners, robbers, bikers, standover men, conmen and drug dealers, and also examine the role of police, politicians and lawyers who have helped and hindered the growth of criminal empires. Vivid and explosive, Gangland Australia is compulsive reading.

One Life

One Life
Author: Kate Grenville
Publisher: Canongate Books
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2015-05-07
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1782116869

*NEW NOVEL RESTLESS DOLLY MAUNDER SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2024* FROM THE BOOKER PRIZE-SHORTLISTED AND WOMEN’S PRIZE-WINNING AUSTRALIAN NOVELIST Kate Grenville often takes inspiration for her fiction from her family history and this extraordinary memoir about the life of her own mother, Nance Russell, reveals why. Born to an unhappy marriage and into a deeply sexist society, Nance worked hard for everything she had, and while the world changed around her, she went on to university, opening businesses and raising a family. One Life is just as much a universal story as it is Nance’s. Beautifully captured by her daughter, it draws on the tales passed down by word of mouth, creating an evocative portrait of life in twentieth-century rural Australia and a deeply intimate and caring homage to a mother’s struggle.

Angel Puss

Angel Puss
Author: Colleen McCullough
Publisher:
Total Pages: 363
Release: 2005
Genre: Australian fiction
ISBN: 9780732281595

The bestselling author of The Thorn Birds moves to HarperCollins with a novel of laughter, passion and more than a little magic ...Sydney's Kings Cross, 1960: Harriet Purcell leaves her conventional, respectable Bronte home and respectable, passionless boyfriend and moves into a rooming house owned by Mrs Delvecchio Schwartz.There Harriet finds a life she relishes. Her world oscillates between two poles - the starchy hospital where she works as an X-ray technician, and the madcap nonconformity of Kings Cross.Landlady Mrs Delvecchio Schwartz makes an under-the-lap living from telling fortunes, and is mother to four-year-old Flo. Beautiful little Flo - the 'Angel Puss' of the title - is mute, and Harriet comes to love her as if Flo were her own.Awakened to pain and terror, the confusions of the heart and the preciousness of her new life, Harriet battles to retain her freedom and her integrity against overwhelming odds.Angel Puss is Colleen McCullough at her vintage best, writing of a world that has gone: its dynamism, laughter, and unbridled passions. Most of all, it is a tale of women's love for children, and what they are prepared to endure to protect and nurture a beloved child.

Drunks, Pests and Harlots

Drunks, Pests and Harlots
Author: Leigh S. L. Straw
Publisher: Zeticula
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2013
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781846220425

Esther Warden was the 'terror' of West End Fremantle and the most dangerous woman in Western Australia. Lilly Doyle kept company with thieves and rogues and was listed as an 'undesirable'. May Ahern was a 'fallen' woman who lured men into dark street corners, tempting them away from the paths of virtue. Esther, Lilly and May were notorious female criminals in early twentieth-century Perth and Fremantle. Criminalised as drunks, prostitutes and vagrants, women committing offences against good order faced a double punishment for their social and gender transgressions. 'Drunks, Pests and Harlots' takes a trip through the underworld streets of Perth and Fremantle from 1900-1939. It offers a glimpse into the lives of criminal women facing close police surveillance, negative media coverage, strict incarceration and institutionalisation. These lives present historical perspectives on female offenders and the development of public critiques of women who fail to meet the expectations of society.

Fear the Worst

Fear the Worst
Author: Linwood Barclay
Publisher: Random House LLC
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2009-08-11
Genre: Fathers and daughters
ISBN: 0385668023

Seventeen-year-old Sydney Blake is spending the summer with her father and working part-time at a local hotel. When she doesn't come home from her shift one night, her father Tim goes to the hotel, only to have the manager claim that Sydney has never worked there. When he searches for clues and leads from his daughter's friends, the death threats start to arrive.