The Gibson Girl Review

It's the Season Three finale of The Gibson Girl Review, and we are bringing it home with jangling spurs and a rollicking BANG! Amy, Jacinta, and Amanda all gather in the studio to discuss the Godfather of the American Western genre, Owen Wister's 1902 classic, The Virginian. Filled with humor, pathos, and some immortal characters, this meandering tale may very well change the way you think about Westerns forever! CLICK HERE for complete show notes, including a link to download today's public-domain novel for FREE! Topics and shout-outs in this episode include: Louis L'Amour, Zane Grey, Bret Harte, John Wayne, the Old West, American mythology, animal abuse, lynching, racism, High Noon, Angel and the Badman, the Wyoming Territory, and western tropes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the very first author to appear a second time on our podcast, Richard Harding Davis! Today's all-new episode explores Davis' 1895 royal romance, THE PRINCESS ALINE—approved by none other than Queen Victoria herself! And we already know that Amy is a fan... but what does Jacinta think of her very first Dick Davis novel? Tune in to find out! CLICK HERE for complete show notes, including companion episodes, and a link to download this episode's public-domain story for FREE! Topics and shout-outs in this episode include: Richard Harding Davis, Charles Dana Gibson, Queen Victoria, Princess Alix of Hesse, Tsar Nicholas II, the Russian Revolution, the Gilded Age, The Prisoner of Zenda, Somewhere in Time, Ward McAllister, the Patriarch's Ball, Delmonico's, Irene Langhorne Gibson, Cecil Clark Davis, Fairfax Downey, the Gibson Girl, the Gibson Man, Jeeves and Wooster, P. G. Wodehouse, the Atelier Julien, European tourism, and Ethel Barrymore.

She's back!! Katja Labonté, the original co-host of The Gibson Girl Review, returns as a guest reviewer for this all-new episode, as she and Amy crack open the cover on Henry James' scandalous 1878 novella, Daisy Miller. But is this story as shocking for us today as it supposedly was during the Gilded Age? And how does this story relate to Amy and Katja's very first episode of the podcast? And speaking of scandals, Amy introduces us in the history segment to Evelyn Nesbit, the most notorious of all the real-life Gibson Girl models, whose story is a surprisingly close parallel to that of our featured book's heroine. CLICK HERE for complete show notes, including a link to download today's public-domain book for FREE! Topics and shout-outs in this episode include: Charles Dana Gibson, Gibson Girls, the Gilded Age, Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier, the Redwall series, Pollyanna, Anne of Green Gables, Hannah Linder, The Girl from the Hidden Forest, Evelyn Nesbit, Stanford White, Harry Kendall Thaw, The Trial of the Century, murder, scandal, insanity, jealousy, Gilmore Girls, American ex-patriots, Newport, Paris, London, Geneva, World War I, the Nobel Prize for Literature, Impressionism, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Pink and White Tyranny, The Vassar Miscellany, Vassar girls, A Study in Bloomers, Miss Bayle's Romance, and Mr. Darcy.

It's here at last—the book YOU wanted us to review! In honor of baseball's Opening Day, Amy and Jacinta step up to the plate with the winner of last season's First 5 Pages Challenge, ICE-CREAM ALLEY by Henry Albert Collins (1918), and explore all the ways this audience-selected book surprised and disappointed them. Plus Amy introduces us to the most famous Gibson Girl of the 1890s, Minnie Clark! CLICK HERE for complete show notes, including a link to read today's public-domain book for FREE! Topics and shout-outs in this episode include: Charles Dana Gibson, Gibson Girls, Minnie Clark, The First 5 Pages Challenge, baseball, Cracker Jack, Anne of the Island, Eric Liddell, Chariots of Fire, Kirk Gibson, the 1988 World Series, Sense & Sensibility, Catherine Marshall, Peter Marshall, New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, A Man Called Peter, the Rollings Reliable Baking Powder Company, life annuity bonds, applied Christianity, the Methodist Episcopal Church, YMCA, Moody Bible College, James Carroll Beckwith, Daniel C. French, the Chicago 1893 World's Fair, Percy Griffin, and Easter.

What would you do with your life if, for the first time in history, you had a choice? That's the big question that Amy and guest reviewer Lisa Ard tackle in today's 1894 novel, A BACHELOR MAID by Mrs. Burton Harrison. This forgotten Gilded Age romance explores many relevant themes that 21st century women are still struggling with, plus Amy introduces the next-generation Gibson Girl model, Charles Dana Gibson's daughter Babs! CLICK HERE for complete show notes, including links to this episode's exclusive SPOILER ROOM mini-episode, and to download today's public domain book for FREE! Topics and shout-outs in this episode include: Charles Dana Gibson, the Gibson Girl, Irene Gibson Emery, the Gilded Age, the Woman Question, women's rights, spinsters, working women, Helen Reddy, Jane Austen, Pearl S. Buck, To Kill a Mockingbird, middle-grade fiction, the Civil War, Reconstruction, divorce, property rights, emancipation, suffrage, and the Nineteenth Amendment.

It's Leap Day—and the men have taken over the podcast! It's the first-ever episode of The Gibson MAN Review, because today's featured book, For Jacinta by Harold Bindloss (1907), definitely needed guy's perspective to help Amy and our Jacinta understand it. Plus, in honor of the tables-turned day, Amy introduces the original Gibson Man model in the history segment, Charles Dana Gibson's very own brother, Langdon. CLICK HERE for complete show notes, including a link to download this public domain book for FREE! Topics and shout-outs in this episode include: the Gibson Man, Charles Dana Gibson, the Gilded Age, the Progressive Era, Leap Day, Richard Harding Davis, Langdon Gibson, the Stanton Expedition of 1889-1890, the Peary Expedition of 1891-1892, General Electric, fictional heroes, Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice, Mr. Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam, Persuasion, Captain Wentworth, Emma, Mr. Elton, Frank Churchill, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, Gilbert Blythe, Emily of New Moon, Teddy Kent, The Black Stallion, Alec Ramsey, Walter Farley, Rudolph Rassendyll, The Prisoner of Zenda, Anthony Hope, Poor Dear Theodora!, Alan Beeckman, Florence Irwin, Levi Grant, To Win Her Heart, Karen Witemeyer, Matt Jarreau, My Stubborn Heart, Becky Wade, Authentically Izzy, World War I, racism, shipwrecks, salvage works, Horatio Hornblower, Soldiers of Fortune, Mr. Latimer, In the Bishop's Carriage, Goodreads, manual labor, malaria, Africa, and the Canary Islands.

Surprise!! We're releasing this episode a day earlier than usual because it's Valentine's Day, and we have a LOT of love to share for one of our all-time favorite Gilded Age authors! Amy and Amanda gush about the inimitable George MacDonald and how his works have shaped their lives, plus they take a closer look at MacDonald's last book, FAR ABOVE RUBIES (1898), a sweet novella that not only perfectly encapsulates his writing career, but also exposes his tender heart for a hurting world. It's a multi-layered Valentine episode you don't want to miss! CLICK HERE for complete show notes, including a link to download this public domain book for FREE! Topics and shout-outs in this episode include: the Gilded Age, George MacDonald, C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy, Madeleine L'Engle, J. R. R. Tolkein, G. K. Chesterton, What's Mine's Mine, Phantastes, Lilith, The Princess and the Goblin, Diary of an Old Soul, Louisa MacDonald, Frank Capra, It's a Wonderful Life, Jimmy Stewart, and "Stand By Your Man."

Guard your wallets and jewels, old book lovers! There's a pickpocket sneaking into The Gibson Girl Review today... and Amy and Jacinta are utterly fascinated by her! Tune in for their review of IN THE BISHOP'S CARRIAGE by Miriam Michelson, a 1903 novel that is as entertaining as it is unconventional. Plus Amy exposes a Real-Life Gibson Girl fraud in our latest history segment! CLICK HERE for complete show notes, including links to THE SPOILER-ROOM mini-episode exclusive, and to download today's book for FREE! Topics and shout-outs in this episode include: Charles Dana Gibson, Gibson Girls, gilded fiction, Camille Clifford, Abebooks, Bookshop.org, Henry W. Savage, the Great War, Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Nobel Prize, the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children, pickpockets, prison, and grace.

At long last!! After a week of messy technical problems (and a lot of ugly-crying!), we are FINALLY able to bring you our latest episode... and we think it's worth the wait because this is THE book, folks! Without Mark Twain and Charles Warner's masterful 1873 satire, THE GILDED AGE, well, we simply wouldn't have a podcast! But does this collaborative classic live up to the expectations? Returning guest Gwendolyn Gage joins Amy in the studio to find out! Plus it's our most dramatic and tragic history segment yet, as Amy tells Gwen the story of real-life Gibson Girl model Amy Thill. CLICK HERE for complete show notes, including links to download print and audio copies of today's book for FREE! Topics and shout-outs in this episode include: Charles Dana Gibson, Josephine Gibson Knowlton, Janette Rallison, Amy Thill, John Bigelow, Benjamin Falk, John LaFarge, Julie Andrews, Mark Twain, Charles Dudley Warner, Julian Fellowes, HBO's The Gilded Age, the Civil War, satire, Quakers, the Gilded Age, women's rights, suffrage, emancipation, steamboats, adoption, revenge, greed, political corruption, land conservation, Millennials, and Gen Z.

Bloomers, bicycles, and old books—oh my! It's an all new year, and an all new season of The Gibson Girl Review kicks off with long-overdue book we've been wanting to share since the podcast began: George F. Hall's didactic diatribe, A Study in Bloomers (1895). Amy and Jacinta take turns praising and bashing this unusual story of a weary preacher who falls for a bloomer-wearing, bicycle-riding "New Woman," and take a deeper look at the differences between this "New Woman" and the iconic Gibson Girl. Plus the history segment is back by popular demand! This season, it's all about the real-life women who modeled for Charles Dana Gibson's illustrations, and who better to start with than the one woman who just might be able to claim the "original Gibson Girl" title once and for all—Gibson's little sister, Josephine. CLICK HERE for complete show notes, including links to THE SPOILER ROOM mini-episode exclusive, and to download today's book for FREE! Topics and shout-outs in this episode include: Charles Dana Gibson, Gibson Girls, the Gilded Age, the Progressive Era, gilded fiction, Josephine Gibson Knowlton, Daniel Knowlton, Life Magazine, Irene Langhorne Gibson, the Mafia, the Interstate Commerce Commission, Chevrolet, Harvard, The Great War, feminism vs. femininity, The Woman Question, Mr. Darcy, America's Daughter, A Study in Scarlet, Sherlock Holmes, Miss Bayle's Romance, Elsie Dinsmore, Swiss Family Robinson, Didacticism, Ben-Hur, bimetalism, divorce, prohibition, dress reform, dietetics, athleticism, Paul Leicester Ford, Shop Early for Christmas, the Bicycle Craze, the Bloomer Agitation, the 1893 World's Fair, and land speculation.

Well, most of them anyhow!! Amy and Amanda are in the Gibson Girl Review studio today, and boy, do they have a bone to pick with William Sidney Porter about his most famous Christmas short story! But they also have two more story recommendations from this famous author, making it a trifecta of Christmas cheer for your holiday to-be-read list! CLICK HERE for complete show notes, including links to download today's public-domain stories for FREE!

We're back!!! December is here, and so is Season Three of The Gibson Girl Review! We're preempting our regular book reviews this month to bring you a couple very special Christmas episodes! Amy and Jacinta kick off the season with two swoonworthy Christmas romances that deliver all of the holiday warm-fuzzies. Click the link below to add them to your holiday TBR pile today! CLICK HERE for complete show notes, including links to download today's public-domain stories for FREE! Topics and shout-outs in this episode include: the Gibson Girl, Charles Dana Gibson, the Gilded Age, the Progressive Era, Paul Leicester Ford, Howard Chandler Christy, Margaret Armstrong, the Christy Girl, Richard Harding Davis, Thomas Jefferson, Noah Webster, Teddy Roosevelt, Benito Mussolini, the Wright Brothers, the Spanish-American War, World War I, Ebenezer Scrooge, Macy's, early Christmas, Christmas gift books, dime novels, Old Sleuth, Rena I. Halsey, America's Daughter, New York City, colonial history, the American Revolution, Art Nouveau, stained glass, mystery novels, Wildflowers of the American West, silent movies, newsboys, and Hallmark movies.

It's the Season Two Finale of The Gibson Girl Review, and for this special Halloween episode to wrap up our Month of Mystery! theme, we're unshelving our most famous book yet—Gaston Leroux's 1911 classic, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. How does this original horror story measure up to the stage and screen adaptations we know and love today? Tune in to find out! Plus Amy, Jacinta, and Amy take a brief look back at all the books featured this season... the good, the bad, and the melodramatic. CLICK HERE for complete show notes, including a link to download today's book for FREE!

You never quite know what you might get when you crack open the cover of a beautiful old book, and today's episode uncovered a duesy! Amy and Jacinta thought THE CRIME OF HALLOW-E'EN by Laura Jean Libbey would be a great fit for our Month of Mystery! theme... but instead, they discovered a first for the podcast—a dime novel! Amid the laughs and confusion, today's all-new old book review plumbs the cultural depths of 1891 Gilded Age decorum, and even offers a Spoiler Room bonus episode to keep the laughs going. Plus we're celebrating Jacinta's recent writing award! CLICK HERE for complete show notes, including links to THE SPOILER ROOM mini-episode exclusive, and to download today's book for FREE! Learn more about Jacinta's award-winning writing on her website! Topics and shout-outs in this episode include: Scarlett O'Hara, the Oregon Trail, ACFW, the Genesis Award, historical fiction, California history, The Secret Place, the Gilded Age, dime novels, Travers, telenovelas, soap operas, Friends, the Library of Congress, Old Sleuth, Harlan P. Halsey, Rena I. Halsey, America's Daughter, Brooklyn, Hallmark movies, Wild Bill Hickok, Little Women, insanity, animal cruelty, divorce, and Bluebeard.

We're expanding The Gibson Girl Review this week with a brand-new co-host and a pre-Gilded Age classic! Amy welcomes author and fellow old soul Amanda G. Stevens to the show, and after a little introductory session they get right down to business with this week's all new Month of Mystery! selection, THE MOONSTONE by Wilkie Collins (1868). Filled with complex characters and amazing craftsmanship, this "first modern detective novel" leaves them both shaking their heads... in the best way possible. CLICK HERE for complete show notes, including links to THE SPOILER ROOM mini-episode exclusive, and to download today's book for FREE! Topics and shout-outs in this episode include: George MacDonald, T. S. Eliot, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, The Scarlet Letter, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, L. M. Montgomery, Ben-Hur, Lord Peter Wimsey, detective novels, fantasy, speculative fiction, antiques, and the art of collecting.

It's a momentous episode in the history of The Gibson Girl Review, as Amy and Katja make a big announcement about the future of the show. Plus our "Month of Mystery!" continues with an all-new review of the very first book by the Mother of Mystery herself, Anna Katharine Green's 1878 debut novel, THE LEAVENWORTH CASE. A truly Victorian murder mystery in every sense of the word, this Gilded Age classic is a perfect example of why old books still deserve to be read. CLICK HERE for complete show notes, including a link to download today's book for FREE! Topics and shout-outs in this episode include: the Gilded Age, Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, murder mysteries, detective novels, police procedurals, ballistics, marriage laws, Julian Fellowes, Downton Abbey, and New York society.

October is here... and so is our first theme! This final month of our second season is the Month of Mystery, which means we'll be bringing you five all-new episodes featuring five old spooky, mysterious, maniacal, sensational stories! First up is Clinton H. Stagg's 1916 whodunit, SILVER SANDALS, featuring the blind detective Thornley Colton. Yes, you read that right—our sleuth is blind! But that doesn't stop him from delving into a seedy, spooky world of Egyptomania, cryptic last wishes, mistaken identities, and a walking corpse! Plus you'll find out just what Amy and Katja really think of pumpkin spice. CLICK HERE for complete show notes, including a link to download today's book for FREE! Topics and shout-outs in this episode include: Sherlock Holmes, Helen Keller, Richard Harding Davis, Alfred Hitchcock, Anne of Green Gables, autumn, reincarnation, Napoleon, the Rosetta Stone, the Washington Monument, hypnosis, Egyptology, King Tutankhamun, the Crystal Palace, the Great Exhibition of 1851, blindness, vintage mysteries, Edgar Allen Poe, Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and pumpkin spice.

October is just around the corner, and it is going to be The Gibson Girl Review's biggest month yet! So as our hosts read up for all the spooky, mysterious fun coming your way, they're taking a trip down memory lane today with a "re-read" of one of last season's most popular episodes! Before September ends, be sure to visit GibsonGirlReview.com to vote in The First 5 Pages Challenge, and to enter the Dana's Birthday Giveaway! Both are FREE!

Applying a modern publishing industry standard to our ever-growing list of Gilded Age and Progressive Era books to review on the show, we present an all-new, interactive feature on The Gibson Girl Review... The First 5 Pages Challenge! Throughout this season, we will present the first five pages of various books we are considering for the podcast, and ask you to tell us which ones you want us to review. The winner of the challenge will be featured in a full review episode next season! Today's final entry is Was She Engaged? by J. L. Collins (under the pseudonym "Jonquil"), first published in 1871. Listen to the episode, then click the link below to vote—it's that easy! ⁠The decision is yours: should we review this book? VOTE NOW!⁠ But hurry! Voting will be open only until September 30th, when The First 5 Pages Challenge ends for this season!

... and podcast hosts have no business singing! But that doesn't stop the hosts of The Gibson Girl Review from wishing a very happy birthday to the creator of the iconic Gibson Girl, Charles Dana Gibson! Amy and Jacinta not only sing—and laugh—their hearts out in today's episode, but they positively rave over Anthony Hope's 1894 classic, THE PRISONER OF ZENDA, with its cheeky comedy, swashbuckling action, thought-provoking themes, and of course, lots of swoonworthy romance! And in honor of Dana's birthday on September 14th, they are giving YOU a chance to win a copy of this amazing story for your very own antique book collection!! This is one old book review you can't afford to miss! CLICK HERE for complete show notes, including how to ENTER THE DRAWING for a copy of The Prisoner of Zenda! Topics and shout-outs in this episode include: Charles Dana Gibson, the Gibson Girl, the Gibson Man, Richard Harding Davis, Dana's Club, the First 5 Pages Challenge, book hangovers, beach reads, The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo, The Princess Bride, the Gilded Age, Ronald Coleman, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Oxford University, Pride and Prejudice, Alexander Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo, Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Prince and the Pauper, Henryk Sienkiewicz, Quo Vadis, America's Daughter, Jan of the Windmill, Ruritanian romance, Amazon Prime, Wikipedia, Rupert of Hentzau, and Hallmark movies.