Joseph A. Conforti

Lizzie Borden on Trial: Murder, Ethnicity, and Gender - Landmark Law Cases and American Society Joseph A. Conforti

Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.; Most people could probably tell you that Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks, but few could say that, when tried, Lizzie Borden was acquitted, and fewer still, why. In Joseph A. Conforti's engrossing retelling, the case of Lizzie Borden, sensational in itself, also opens a window on a time and place in American history and culture. Surprising for how much it reveals about a legend so ostensibly familiar, Conforti's account is also fascinating for what it tells us about the world that Lizzie Borden inhabited. As Conforti--himself a native of Fall River, the site of the infamous murders--introduces us to Lizzie and her father and step-mother, he shows us why who they were matters almost as much to the trial's outcome as the actual events of August 4, 1892. Lizzie, for instance, was an unmarried woman of some privilege, a prominent religious woman who fit the profile of what some characterized as a Protestant nun. She was also part of a class of moneyed women emerging in the late 19th century who had the means but did not marry, choosing instead to pursue good works and at times careers in the helping professions. Many of her contemporaries, we learn, particularly those of her class, found it impossible to believe that a woman of her background could commit such a gruesome murder. As he relates the details, known and presumed, of the murder and the subsequent trial, Conforti also fills in that background. His vividly written account creates a complete picture of the Fall River of the time, as Yankee families like the Bordens, made wealthy by textile factories, began to feel the economic and cultural pressures of the teeming population of native and foreign-born who worked at the spindles and bobbins. Conforti situates Lizzie's austere household, uneasily balanced between the well-to-do and the poor, within this social and cultural milieu--laying the groundwork for the murder and the trial, as well as the outsize reaction that reverberates to our day. As Peter C. Hoffer remarks in his preface, there are many popular and fictional accounts of this still-controversial case, but none so readable or so well-balanced as this.--; Provided by publisher.; This is a retelling of the famous story of Lizzie Borden, charged with killing her father and stepmother with forty whacks of a hatchet. Conforti describes the crime, the investigation, and the trial that resulted in her acquittal. He places the trial in the context of the social and cultural climate of late 19th century Fall River, a town made rich by textile factories, most of which were owned by one branch or another of the Bordens', but that was increasingly the home of immigrants, brought in to work on the mills, and now challenging the domination of Fall River by wealthy Yankees like the Bordens. Also, he shows that the Borden case illustrates the way unmarried women like Lizzie Borden were treated. Conforti believes that Lizzie did it but the book is not really about her guilt or innocence but how the case illustrates the position of a woman like Lizzie in society and how that tipped the balance toward her acquittal--; Provided by publisher. Review Quotes: "Lizzie Borden took an axe. . ." or did she? Joseph A. Conforti's new book on the infamous Victorian spinster who inspired the timeless children's rhyme sheds an incandescent glow on the first true "crime of the century" in America."--Candace DeLong, Retired FBI Profiler and host of "Deadly Women" on Investigation DiscoveryReview Quotes: "Joseph A. Conforti brings to life fin de siecle Fall River in this engaging portrait of Lizzie Borden's world. Gracefully written and with detailed attention to conflicts of class, ethnicity, and gender, Conforti's nuanced analysis sheds new light on an old murder."--Elizabeth De Wolfe, Ph. D., Chair of the Department of History & Philosophy, University of New England"Table of Contents: Editors' Preface Preface Prologue 1. Setting: The Bordens of Fall River 2. The Bordens of Second Street 3. The Crime Heard 'round the Country and Beyond 4. The Investigation 5. Arrest 6. "Probably Guilty" 7. Lizzie's Long Wait 8. Prosecuting Lizzie 9. The Court's Heavy Hand 10. Defending Lizzie 11. Verdict Epilogue Chronology Bibliographical Essay IndexPublisher Marketing: Most people could probably tell you that Lizzie Borden "took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks," but few could say that, when tried, Lizzie Borden was acquitted, and fewer still, why. In Joseph A. Conforti's engrossing retelling, the case of Lizzie Borden, sensational in itself, also opens a window on a time and place in American history and culture. Surprising for how much it reveals about a legend so ostensibly familiar, Conforti's account is also fascinating for what it tells us about the world that Lizzie Borden inhabited. As Conforti--himself a native of Fall River, the site of the infamous murders--introduces us to Lizzie and her father and step-mother, he shows us why who they were matters almost as much to the trial's outcome as the actual events of August 4, 1892. Lizzie, for instance, was an unmarried woman of some privilege, a prominent religious woman who fit the profile of what some characterized as a "Protestant nun." She was also part of a class of moneyed women emerging in the late 19th century who had the means but did not marry, choosing instead to pursue good works and at times careers in the helping professions. Many of her contemporaries, we learn, particularly those of her class, found it impossible to believe that a woman of her background could commit such a gruesome murder. As he relates the details, known and presumed, of the murder and the subsequent trial, Conforti also fills in that background. His vividly written account creates a complete picture of the Fall River of the time, as Yankee families like the Bordens, made wealthy by textile factories, began to feel the economic and cultural pressures of the teeming population of native and foreign-born who worked at the spindles and bobbins. Conforti situates Lizzie's austere household, uneasily balanced between the well-to-do and the poor, within this social and cultural milieu--laying the groundwork for the murder and the trial, as well as the outsize reaction that reverberates to our day. As Peter C. Hoffer remarks in his preface, there are many popular and fictional accounts of this still-controversial case, "but none so readable or so well-balanced as this."

Contributor Bio:  Conforti, Joseph A Joseph A. Conforti is Distinguished Professor of American and New England Studies Emeritus at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. He is the author of several books, including the award-winning Imagining New England: Explorations of Regional Identity from the Pilgrims to the Mid-Twentieth Century and Another City upon a Hill, a memoir of growing up in Lizzie Borden's hometown.