A Dirty, Wicked Town: Tales of 19th Century Omaha (Nebraska)

Most folks consider Omaha, Nebraska, a quiet, laid-back city in America's heartland. It wasn't always that way. In the nineteenth century, the town had a different sort of reputation. David L. Bristow tells the story of "the other Omaha."

"If you want to find a rogue's rookery, go to Omaha..." it is a "fitting subject for the prayers of a nation." Kansas City Newspaper, 1873

Rudyard Kipling was both fascinated and appalled by the town.

But scores of settlers, bullwhackers, gamblers, politicians, prostitutes and confidence men saw the future in it. Omaha, grew from a speculative scheme in 1854 to a booming city by the turn of the century. Along the way, there were scores of great stories, many of which Bristow includes in "A Dirty, Wicked Town". All the stories are true-they only read like fiction.