Murder in a Mill Town Audiobook By Bruce Dorsey cover art

Murder in a Mill Town

Sex, Faith, and the Crime That Captivated a Nation

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Murder in a Mill Town

By: Bruce Dorsey
Narrated by: Brandon Pollock
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About this listen

In December 1832 a farmer found the body of a pregnant young woman hanging near a haystack outside a New England mill town. When news spread that Methodist preacher Ephraim Avery was accused of murdering Sarah Maria Cornell, a factory worker, the case gave the public everything they found irresistible: sexually charged violence, adultery, the hypocrisy of a church leader, secrecy and mystery, and suspicions of insanity. Murder in a Mill Town tells the story of how a local crime quickly turned into a national scandal that became America's first "trial of the century."

After her death, Cornell's choices about work, survival, and personal freedom became enmeshed in stories that Americans told themselves about their new world of industry and women's labor and the power of religion in the early republic. Ordinary people gave testimony that revealed rapidly changing times. As the controversy of Cornell's murder spread beyond the courtroom, the public eagerly devoured narratives of moral deviance, abortion, suicide, mobs, "fake news," and conspiracy politics. Long after the jury's verdict, the nation refused to let the scandal go.

A meticulously reconstructed historical whodunit, Murder in a Mill Town exposes the troublesome workings of criminal justice in the young democracy and the rise of a sensational popular culture.

©2023 Bruce Dorsey (P)2023 Tantor
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Religion and Death

What a read! I was shocked with some of the information that was shared, especially about the preacher who was accused of murder. It seems that he had a history of intimidating and using his position to belittle others. Mr. Avery was not a good person, and it was sickening to see that others, especially high up in his church, would rally to protect and intimidate others. This was a great read, and one that really sheds some light into some of the protections that were not extended to the mill girls, and those who were desperately trying to just fit in somewhere, to be a part of something.

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