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Connections

Connections: Author Sonja Livingston And Her Book, Ladies Night At The Dreamland

We talk with author Sonja Livingston about her new book, Ladies Night at the Dreamland

At the Dreamland, women and girls flicker from the shadows to take their proper place in the spotlight. In this lyrical collection, Livingston weaves together strands of research and imagination to conjure figures from history, literature, legend, and personal memory. The result is a series of essays that highlight lives as varied, troubled, and spirited as America itself. Harnessing the power of language, Livingston breathes life into subjects who lived extraordinary lives— as rule-breakers, victims, or those whose differences made them cultural curiosities—bringing together those who slipped through the world largely unseen with those whose images were fleeting or faulty so that they, too, remained relatively obscure. Included are Alice Mitchell, a Memphis society girl who murdered her female lover in 1892; Maria Spelterini, who crossed Niagara Falls on a tightrope in 1876; May Fielding, a “white slave girl” buried in a Victorian cemetery; Valaida Snow, a Harlem Renaissance trumpeter; a child exhibited as Darwin’s Missing Link; the sculptors’ model Audrey Munson; a Crow warrior; victims of a 1970s serial killer; the Fox Sisters; and many more.

   

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Scott served in various capacities, including as a reporter and as host of Morning Edition or All Things Considered.

Connections with Evan Dawson

Connections is our daily, live talk show. It airs live weekdays, noon-2 p.m., and re-airs at 9 and 10 p.m. You can also find us wherever you find your podcasts.

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