Cassie Chadwick, The Greatest Grifter of the Gilded Age (with Annie Reed)

Cassie Chadwick, one of history’s most successful con artists, was a master of reinvention. In the dusk of the Gilded Age, she swept from town to town, assuming fresh identities to swindle a fortune so large that it rivaled the robber barons of the time.

Annie Reed, author of a new biography of Cassie Chadwick, joins us to share the saga of one of history’s earliest scam goddesses.

Click here to buy a copy of The Imposter Heiress: Cassie Chadwick, the Greatest Grifter of the Gilded Age.

—

Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout

—

Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)

—

Support Vulgar History on Patreon 

—

Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Forgotten Sluts and Shrews Who Shaped America (with Therese Oneill)

Slut. Shrew. Sinful. Scold. The 19th- and early 20th-century American women profiled in Therese Oneill’s new book Unbecoming A Woman were called all these names and worse when they were alive. And that’s just fine.

Therese joins us to celebrate these women who forever changed what women can become.

Click here to buy a copy of Unbecoming A Lady: The Forgotten Sluts and Shrews Who Shaped America.

—

Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout

—

Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)

—

Support Vulgar History on Patreon 

—

Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (with Sean Lusk, author of A Woman of Opinion)

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was an English aristocrat, medical pioneer, writer, and poet. She learned about the practice of smallpox inoculation while in the Ottoman Empire, and lobbied to bring the practice to England. We’re joined by Sean Lusk, author of A Woman of Opinion, a new novel about Mary’s life.

Click here to buy a copy of A Woman of Opinion.

—

Hilary Mantel’s essay on the importance of historical fiction.

—

Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout

—

Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)

—

Support Vulgar History on Patreon 

—

Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Art of Crime: Princess Caraboo (with Gavin Whitehead)

It’s a crossover special! Last month, I went on The Art of Crime to share the story of Princess Caraboo (not her real name). And today, we’re playing that episode here in the Vulgar History feed. Gavin Whitehead and I talk about the enigmatic Princess Caraboo, who claimed to be an exotic princess who washed up on English shores in 1817. But who was she really?

Learn more about Gavin’s show The Art of Crime at artofcrimepodcast.com

—

Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout

—

Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)

—

Support Vulgar History on Patreon 

—

Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marquis de Lafayette, part one (with Allison Epstein)

In this instalment of How Do You Solve A Problem Like Marie Antoinette, we look at a man who really annoyed her: the Marquis de Lafayette. And joining us to share the legendary life of this dirtbag (complimentary) is friend of the podcast Allison Epstein!

Allison’s new book Fagin the Thief comes out in February 2025. Click here to preorder a copy.

—

Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout

—

Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping)

—

Support Vulgar History on Patreon 

—

Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices