Empire of sin : a story of sex, jazz, murder, and the battle for modern New Orleans /
Material type: TextPublisher: New York : Crown, 2014Description: pages cmContent type:- text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9780770437060 (hardback)
- 0770437060 (hardback)
- 9780770437084 (paperback)
- 0770437087 (paperback)
- Anderson, Thomas Charles, 1858-1931
- Crime -- Louisiana -- New Orleans -- History -- 20th century
- Murder -- Louisiana -- New Orleans -- History -- 20th century
- Corruption -- Louisiana -- New Orleans -- History -- 20th century
- Jazz -- Social aspects -- Louisiana -- New Orleans -- History -- 20th century
- Sex customs -- Louisiana -- New Orleans -- History -- 20th century
- HISTORY / United States / State & Local / South (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV)
- TRUE CRIME / Murder / Serial Killers
- SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / Urban
- New Orleans (La.) -- History -- 20th century
- Storyville (New Orleans, La.) -- History -- 20th century
- New Orleans (La.) -- Social conditions -- 20th century
- Storyville (New Orleans, La.) -- Social conditions -- 20th century
- 976.3/35061 23
- F379.N557 K75 2014
- HIS036120 | TRU002010 | SOC026030
Item type | Current library | Home library | Collection | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Standard Loan | Hayden Library Adult Nonfiction | Hayden Library | Book | 976.33/KRIST (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 50610019453526 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
From bestselling author Gary Krist, a vibrant and immersive account of New Orleans' other civil war, at a time when commercialized vice, jazz culture, and endemic crime defined the battlegrounds of the Crescent City
Empire of Sin re-creates the remarkable story of New Orleans' thirty-years war against itself, pitting the city's elite "better half" against its powerful and long-entrenched underworld of vice, perversity, and crime. This early-20th-century battle centers on one man: Tom Anderson, the undisputed czar of the city's Storyville vice district, who fights desperately to keep his empire intact as it faces onslaughts from all sides. Surrounding him are the stories of flamboyant prostitutes, crusading moral reformers, dissolute jazzmen, ruthless Mafiosi, venal politicians, and one extremely violent serial killer, all battling for primacy in a wild and wicked city unlike any other in the world.
PART ONE. The War Begins, 1890-1891 -- Going Respectable -- The Sodom of the South -- The First Casualty -- Retribution -- PART TWO. Drawing Boundaries, Mid-1890s-1907 -- A Sporting Man -- New Sounds -- Desperado -- Storyville Rising -- Jazzmen -- The Sin Factory -- PART THREE. Battlegrounds of Sin, 1907-1917 -- The Black Hand -- A Reawakening -- An Incident on Franklin Street -- Hard Times -- The New Prohibitionists -- PART FOUR. Twilight of the Demimonde, 1917-1920 -- Exodus -- A Killer in the Night -- "Almost As if He Had Wings" -- The Axman's Jazz -- The End of an Empire -- The Soiled Phoenix -- AFTERWORD: Who Was the Axman?
"From bestselling author Gary Krist, a vibrant and immersive account of New Orleans' other civil war, at a time when commercialized vice, jazz culture, and endemic crime defined the battlegrounds of the Crescent City. Empire of Sin re-creates the remarkable story of New Orleans' thirty-years war against itself, pitting the city's elite 'better half' against its powerful and long-entrenched underworld of vice, perversity, and crime. This early-20th-century battle centers on one man: Tom Anderson, the undisputed czar of the city's Storyville vice district, who fights desperately to keep his empire intact as it faces onslaughts from all sides. Surrounding him are the stories of flamboyant prostitutes, crusading moral reformers, dissolute jazzmen, ruthless Mafiosi, venal politicians, and one extremely violent serial killer, all battling for primacy in a wild and wicked city unlike any other in the world"-- Provided by publisher.
Excerpt provided by Syndetics
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Library Journal Review
Krist (City of Scoundrels) presents a fascinating look into attempts to change New Orleans's rough-and-ready reputation during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The city's elite worried that its wide-open sexuality, violence, and race mixing prevented Eastern bankers from investing capital in New Orleans, especially in the growing petroleum industry. They restricted prostitution to the infamous Storyville red-light district and pushed the notoriously corrupt police department to clamp down on violence in the Italian American community. They also persuaded the Louisiana state legislature to pass strict Jim Crow laws. All this enriched elements of the New Orleans underworld, especially Tom Anderson, the so-called Mayor of Storyville, who became wealthy through running brothels and bars. Robertson Dean does an excellent job presenting this tale. VERDICT This interesting and entertaining audiobook is recommended to all listeners. ["Highly recommended for readers interested in New Orleans and also for those looking for a readable collection of true stories from one of America's most fascinating metropolises," read the starred review of the Crown hc, LJ 10/1/14; a Top Ten Best Book of 2014, LJ 1/15.]-Stephen L. Hupp, West Virginia Univ. Parkersburg Lib. © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.Publishers Weekly Review
This well-researched book captures an exciting chapter in the history of Louisiana's most vibrant city. During the late Victorian era, New Orleans reformers hoped to confine the city's notorious vices to one officially sanctioned district, Storyville, in order to protect the wealthier neighborhoods from seediness. Brothers, saloons, and jazz halls filled the lively, violent neighborhood, from which larger-than-life figures emerged, such as Tom Anderson, the "major of Storyville," jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton, and the "Axeman of New Orleans," a serial killer with a penchant for grocers. Narrator Dean excels in delivering this rich look at the birth of New Orleans and the struggle over its morality. His voice, a deep clear baritone, delivers the countless stories of shootings, seductions, and crime lords with enough solemnity to underscore the historical evolution of the city, but inflects the perfect touch of wryness while relaying the scandalous events and outrageous characters. An entertaining, educational listen. A Crown hardcover. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.Booklist Review
Though this book's title may draw in those seeking a randy true-crime tale, they will be pleasantly surprised and engrossed by Krist's in-depth, seasoned analysis of the creation, growth, and downfalls of New Orleans, particularly its colorful Storyville area, which was indeed the site of vice and murder of all sorts but also of the birth of entrepreneurships and a music unparalleled in the U.S. of the time. Dividing his tale into four eras, ranging from 1890 to 1920, and providing chapter-opening photos of characters and scenes, Krist's well-researched and -told history of New Orleans is an eye-opening tale of a melting pot of the worst (French jails and hospitals were ransacked for potential colonists) trying to make the best of its situation while attracting northern dollars and achieving respectability. There are characters here, genial, business-savvy, and cruel; concerted efforts to live and let live, along with lawlessness; and righteous reformers, all wrapped into a captivating history of an era and locale that ultimately touched much of America's arts, attitudes, and outlook. A fascinating, detail-filled tribute to a city and an era.--Kinney, Eloise Copyright 2014 BooklistKirkus Book Review
A colorful account of reform efforts to eradicate sin, corruption and violence in early-20th-century New Orleans. In this richly detailed narrative, Krist (City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster that Gave Birth to Modern Chicago, 2012, etc.) describes a three-decade battle that pitted an Anglo-American elite against the forces of vice in a swiftly changing Crescent City. After the Civil War, New Orleans hoped to downplay its worldly reputation and attract Northern investors, but crime and immorality flourished. "The social evil is rampant in our midst," wrote one newspaper. By the late 1890s, the "better element" wanted to drive vice out of respectable neighborhoods entirely. Enter alderman Sidney Story, who proposed the 18-block tolerated vice district soon known as Storyville, which harbored 230 brothels as well as dance halls featuring so-called "coon music," or jazz, by Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong and other musicians. Much of Krist's story focuses on denizens of the notorious district, including businessman and Storyville "mayor" Tom Anderson, demimonde "queen" Josie Arlington, and a cast of legendary madams, dancers, gamblers, prostitutes and underworld figures. Drawing on newspaper accounts and court testimony, the author offers vivid accounts of mob violence against Italians and blacks, notably the brutal vigilante lynchings of 11 Italians after the assassination of police chief David C. Hennessy. The members of the mob were hailed as heroes of efforts to clean up the city. By 1918, Jim Crow reigned, Storyville was closed, and jazz was under attack. In the 1930s, having forced vice underground, the city found itself trying to re-create its wicked old reputation to lure tourists. Krist's lively book is only marred by an overlong section devoted to a series of axe murders that plagued the city. A wild, well-told tale. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.Author notes provided by Syndetics
Gary Krist was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1957. He graduated from Princeton University and studied literature at the Universitaet Konstanz on a Fulbright Scholarship. He is an author and journalist. His first collection of short stories, The Garden State, was published in 1988 and won the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction. His other works of fiction include Bone by Bone, Bad Chemistry, Chaos Theory, and Extravagance. His non-fiction works include The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's Deadliest Avalanche and City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster that Gave Birth to Modern Chicago. He is a regular book reviewer for the New York Times Book Review, Salon, and the Washington Post Book World. He has won numerous awards including the Stephen Crane Award and a Lowell Thomas Gold Medal for Travel Journalism.(Bowker Author Biography)
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