While most of us know that prostitution existed in Minneapolis in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, fewer of us know where the red-light districts were, and what life would have been like for the madams and prostitutes who worked in these bordellos.

My guest is Penny A. Petersen, author of Minneapolis Madams: The Lost History of Prostitution on the Riverfront. She offers a rare glimpse of a long lost and hidden history, and the struggles and successes experienced by the women who ran these brothels in a male-dominated business world.

More about the author here.

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