Throughout the development of the American West, prostitution grew and flourished within the mining camps, small towns, and cities of the nineteenth-century West. Whether escaping a bad home life, lured by false advertising, or seeking to subsidize their income, thousands of women chose or were forced to enter an industry where they faced segregation and persecution, fines and jailing, and battled the hazards of disease, drug addiction, physical abuse, pregnancy, and abortion. They dreamed of escape through marriage or retirement, but more often found relief only in death. An integral part of western history, the stories of these women continue to fascinate readers and captivate the minds of historians today.

Historian Jan MacKell Collins explores the history of prostitution in the Great Plains states of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. Each state had its share of working girls and madams like Lincoln's Josie Washburn and Wyatt Earp’s lover Mattie Blaylock, who remain celebrities in the annals of history, but MacKell also includes the stories of lesser-known women whose role in this illicit trade nonetheless shaped our understanding of the American West. The book includes archival images and sidebar content about historic sex work and lesser-known laws.