{"product_id":"the-devils-tickets-a-vengeful-wife-a-fatal-hand-and-a-new-american-age-paperback","title":"The Devil's Tickets: A Vengeful Wife, a Fatal Hand, and a New American Age - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eGary M. Pomerantz\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKansas City, 1929: Myrtle and Jack Bennett sit down with another couple for an evening of bridge. As the game intensifies, Myrtle complains that Jack is a \"bum bridge player.\" For such insubordination, he slaps her hard in front of their stunned guests and announces he is leaving. Moments later, sobbing, with a Colt .32 pistol\u003cbr\u003ein hand, Myrtle fires four shots, killing her husband. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe Roaring 1920s inspired nationwide fads-flagpole sitting, marathon dancing, swimming-pool endurance floating. But of all the mad games that cheered Americans between the wars, the least likely was contract bridge. As the Barnum of the bridge craze, Ely Culbertson, a tuxedoed boulevardier with a Russian accent, used mystique, brilliance, and a certain madness to transform bridge from a social pastime into a cultural movement that made him rich and famous. In writings, in lectures, and on the radio, he used the Bennett killing to dramatize bridge as the battle of the sexes. Indeed, Myrtle Bennett's murder trial became a sensation because it brought a beautiful housewife-and hints of her husband's infidelity-from the bridge table into the national spotlight. James A. Reed, Myrtle's high-powered lawyer and onetime Democratic presidential candidate, delivered soaring, tear-filled courtroom orations. As Reed waxed on about the sanctity of womanhood, he was secretly conducting an extramarital romance with a feminist trailblazer who lived next door. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTo the public, bridge symbolized tossing aside the ideals of the Puritans-who referred derisively to playing cards as \"the Devil's tickets\"-and embracing the modern age. Ina time when such fearless women as Amelia Earhart, Dorothy Parker, and Marlene Dietrich were exalted for their boldness, Culbertson positioned his game as a challenge to all housebound women. At the bridge table, he insisted, a woman could be her husband's equal, and more. In the gathering darkness of the Depression, Culbertson leveraged his own ballyhoo and naughty innuendo for all it was worth, maneuvering himself and his brilliant wife, Jo, his favorite bridge partner, into a media spectacle dubbed the Bridge Battle of the Century. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThrough these larger-than-life characters and the timeless partnership game they played, \u003ci\u003eThe Devil's Tickets\u003c\/i\u003e captures a uniquely colorful age and a tension in marriage that is eternal.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eGARY M. POMERANTZ is an author and journalist and serves as a visiting lecturer in the Department of Communication at Stanford University. His first book, \u003ci\u003eWhere Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn\u003c\/i\u003e, was named a 1996 Notable Book of the Year by the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e. He also earned acclaim for \u003ci\u003eNine Minutes, Twenty Seconds\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eWilt, \u003c\/i\u003e 1962. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Pomerantz lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and their three children.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 336\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.8 x 7.9 x 5.1 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e July 12, 2011\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53756077015373,"sku":"9781400051632","price":21.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0927\/3304\/7117\/files\/vFkJpjK6ir9781400051632.webp?v=1776722056","url":"https:\/\/belfastbooks.us\/products\/the-devils-tickets-a-vengeful-wife-a-fatal-hand-and-a-new-american-age-paperback","provider":"belfastbooks.us","version":"1.0","type":"link"}