Burns receives the storyteller she deserves and can now occupy her proper place in the intersectional histories of feminism, law, and the San Francisco underworld.' -Kirkus Bloom rescues an important figure from the dustbin of history.

Thankfully, the author seems to understand this, and he keeps the spotlight shining squarely on the mercurial Burns. The book is less engaging when Bloom strays from his main subject to report on the large cast of supporting characters. The author's prose is breezy and conversational, and his subject is controversial enough to make the book read more like a thriller than an academic biography, despite the breadth of scholarship on display. While Burns possessed many traits worthy of admiration, she was not without a dark side, and Bloom's portrait is by no means that of a saint, despite his sympathy for his subject. Bloom's San Francisco is almost a character in itself, as he provides a rich history of the city as well as insight into the changing tides of 20th-century culture, especially regarding nascent feminism and the struggle for reproductive rights. His attempts to bring her down are at the heart of the narrative in the form of an engaging courtroom drama. Eventually, her success provoked the ire of up-and-coming district attorney Pat Brown. Before long, she opened her own facility and became the most in-demand abortion provider in California as well as a major player in San Francisco's underworld. Taken under the wing of a charming suitor who also happened to be an abortionist, she learned how to perform the procedure herself. Born in San Francisco to a hardscrabble, no-nonsense mother and an alcoholic father, Burns refused the limited life options available to women of the era. chronicles the life and exploits of Inez Burns (1886-1976), a flamboyant, unapologetic libertine who rose to prominence as the most notorious abortionist in California in the first half of the 20th century.

The audacity of inez burns