The Gilded Age is the only time in American history when prostitution was virtually legal. The Civil War proved such a grizzly affair that afterward, the average citizen was unmoved by a little vice. By the turn of the twentieth century, even small towns had dozens of bawdy houses, and countless saloons and cigar stores with backroom operations. Red light districts abounded and houses of ill fame operated freely. Jennie Hollister was one of the most successful madames of the Gilded Age. Every city in the land had a duplicate copy of Jennie. Fannie Porter's San Antonio, Texas, brothel was a...