Empire of Sin, Gary Krist
Empire of Sin, Gary Krist
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
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Empire of Sin
A Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans

Author: Gary Krist

Narrator: Robertson Dean

Unabridged: 10 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/09/2014

Synopsis

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.

About Gary Krist

Gary Krist is the prizewinning author of the novels Bad Chemistry, Chaos Theory, and Extravagance, and of the short-story collections, The Garden State and Bone by Bone. His stories, articles, and travel pieces have been featured in noteworthy magazines, including National Geographic Traveler, GQ, and Esquire. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife and daughter.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Sue on November 25, 2014

I had a hard time with this book. It's really 3 books in one. A brief history of the birth of jazz. A series of murders. And the politics of New Orleans in the early 20th century. The author tries to connect those three arenas, but in the end the only connection I felt was that they all occurred dur......more

Goodreads review by Therin on December 22, 2015

[NOTE: First time reviewing nonfiction.] When I first read the synopsis of this book, I thought it would make for a good departure from my usual read -- some creative nonfiction. And while Empire of Sin definitely delivered on that front, I thought it had a few weaknesses that really hampered how eff......more

Goodreads review by Blaine on May 22, 2019

Another winner by Gary Krist. I have now read 5 of his books and loved all of them. Here he trains his sights on New Orleans and all the forces that were working, usually in competition with each other, to gain control of the city. From the prostitutes, the red light district known as Storyville, to......more

Goodreads review by Darcia on December 02, 2014

New Orleans has a fascinating history and Gary Krist captures much of it here. In just 30 years, from 1890 to 1920, New Orleans attempted to and almost succeeded in transitioning from a city of vice to a city of virtue. A once racially diverse and tolerant city was turned into a racist, intolerant c......more

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