{"product_id":"they-both-reached-for-the-gun-beulah-annan-maurine-watkins-and-the-trial-that-became-chicago-paperback-softback-9780809339389","title":"They Both Reached for the Gun; Beulah Annan, Maurine Watkins, and the Trial That Became Chicago (Paperback \/ softback) 9780809339389","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eThey Both Reached for the Gun\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eBeulah Annan, Maurine Watkins, and the Trial That Became Chicago\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eCharles H. Cosgrove (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780809339389\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 7 June 2024\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e240 pages, 39 illustrations\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.399 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e“Cosgrove shines a dazzling spotlight on the historical distortions behind the musical Chicago and its source material. With authority and clarity, he argues there never was a Jazz Age Chicago where beautiful women routinely got away with murder. On trial here: the pushback against American women’s social progress.” - Marcia Biederman, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Disquieting Death of Emma Gill: Abortion, Death, and Concealment in Victorian New England\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “\u003ci\u003eThey Both Reached for the Gun\u003c\/i\u003e is a fascinating exploration of the history behind Chicago, the musical based loosely on the 1924 conviction of Beulah Annan for her lover's murder. Through a careful reexamination of the case, the sensational press coverage, and the transformation of the actual events into entertainment, Cosgrove investigates the sometimes-unhealthy relationship between crime news and entertainment.” - Ann Durkin Keating, North Central College\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “In a smooth and flowing style, Cosgrove’s rich insight into a troubled woman’s existence culminating in a questionable indictment and ‘trial-by-press’ presumption of guilt, provides readers with a sobering reassessment of the case, with a glimpse into the era and tabloid culture of the Roaring Twenties.” - Richard C. Lindberg, author of \u003ci\u003eTales of Forgotten Chicago\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eExamining the case that inspired a pop culture phenomenon\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In 1924 Beulah Annan was arrested and incarcerated for killing her lover, Harry Kalsted. Six weeks later, a jury acquitted her of murder. Inspired by the sordid event, trial, and acquittal, Maurine Watkins, a reporter at the time, wrote the play \u003ci\u003eChicago\u003c\/i\u003e, a Broadway hit that was adapted several times. Through a fresh retelling of the story of Annan and of Watkins’s play, Charles H. Cosgrove provides the first critical examination of the criminal case, and an initial exploration of the era’s social assumptions that made the message of the play so plausible in its own time. His careful historical research challenges the received portrait of Annan as a killer who got away with murder, and of Watkins as a savvy cub reporter and precocious playwright.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In \u003ci\u003eThey Both Reached for the Gun\u003c\/i\u003e, Charles H. Cosgrove expertly combines inquest and police records, and interviews with Annan’s relatives, to analyze the participants, the trial, and the subsequent play. Although no one will ever know what really happened in the Kenwood apartment on Chicago’s south side one hundred years ago, Cosgrove’s interrogation shows how sensationalized Watkins’s writing was. Her reporting on the Annan case perpetuated falsehoods about Annan’s so-called “confession,” and her play gave an inaccurate portrayal of Chicago’s criminal justice system. Despite Watkins’s insistence that her drama revealed the truth about its subjects without any exaggeration, her play depicted police, prosecutors, and judges as the only “good guys” in the story, ignoring those who lied, misled, and used brutal methods to obtain forced confessions.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eList of Figures\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePreface\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA Note on Names\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAcknowledgments\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eIntroduction\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e1. Beulah Mae\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e2. A Shooting\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e3. An Alleged Confession\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e4. Police and Prosecutors Shape the Narrative\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e5. Inquest into the Death of Harry Kalsted\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e6. Finding Beulah behind the Press’\u003cbr\u003es Tropes and Paraquotations\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e7. Maurine Watkins’\u003cbr\u003es News with Wit\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e8. Back in Owensboro\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e9. Popular Opinions about Jury Bias in Favor of Women\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e10. Beulah Annan Goes to Trial\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e11. Watkins’\u003cbr\u003es Tendentious Reporting on the Annan Trial\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e12. A Play Is Born\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e13. The Truth about Chicago’\u003cbr\u003es Criminal Justice System\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e14. The Short Unhappy Finish to Beulah’\u003cbr\u003es Life\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e15. Beulah Remembered as Roxie\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e16. Bob Fosse’\u003cbr\u003es Musical Remake of Maurine Watkins’\u003cbr\u003es Play\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePostscript\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAbbreviations\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNotes\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBibliography\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Southern Illinois University Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52739852960024,"sku":"9780809339389","price":18.69,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/they-both-reached-for-the-gun-beulah-annan-maurine-watkins-and-the-trial-that-became-chicago-paperback-softback-9780809339389","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}