About the Author

Marybeth Hamilton holds a Ph.D. in History from Princeton University and teaches American History at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Reviews

"What must strike the reader about Hamilton's careful scholarship is how 'common' West's origins actually were. . . . The strength of Hamilton's book is its in-depth discussion of the ways West drew on her working-class roots in order to offer herself up to middle-class audiences as a 'slumming' experience."--Kelly Mayhew, "American Book Review