Sin in the Second City, Karen Abbott
Sin in the Second City, Karen Abbott
8 Rating(s)
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Sin in the Second City
Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul

Author: Karen Abbott

Narrator: Joyce Bean

Unabridged: 11 hr 3 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 07/31/2007


Synopsis

Step into the perfumed parlors of the Everleigh Club, the most famous brothel in American history—and the catalyst for a culture war that rocked the nation. Operating in Chicago's notorious Levee district at the dawn of the twentieth century, the club's proprietors, two aristocratic sisters named Minna and Ada Everleigh, welcomed moguls and actors, senators and athletes, foreign dignitaries and literary icons, into their stately double mansion, where thirty stunning Everleigh "butterflies" awaited their arrival. Courtesans named Doll, Suzy Poon Tang, and Brick Top devoured raw meat to the delight of Prince Henry of Prussia and recited poetry for Theodore Dreiser. Whereas lesser madams pocketed most of a harlot's earnings and kept a "whipper" on staff to mete out discipline, the Everleighs made sure their girls dined on gourmet food, were examined by an honest physician, and were even tutored in the literature of Balzac.

Not everyone appreciated the sisters' attempts to elevate the industry. Rival Levee madams hatched numerous schemes to ruin the Everleighs, including an attempt to frame them for the death of department store heir Marshall Field, Jr. But the sisters' most daunting foes were the Progressive Era reformers, who sent the entire country into a frenzy with lurid tales of "white slavery"—the allegedly rampant practice of kidnapping young girls and forcing them into brothels. This furor shaped America's sexual culture and had repercussions all the way to the White House.

With a cast of characters that includes Jack Johnson, John Barrymore, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., William Howard Taft, "Hinky Dink" Kenna, and Al Capone, Sin in the Second City is Karen Abbott's colorful, nuanced portrait of the iconic Everleigh sisters, their world-famous club, and the perennial clash between our nation's hedonistic impulses and Puritanical roots. Culminating in a dramatic last stand between brothel keepers and crusading reformers, Sin in the Second City offers a vivid snapshot of America's journey from Victorian-era propriety to twentieth-century modernity.

About Karen Abbott

Karen Abbott is a journalist who has been a staff member of Philadelphia magazine and Philadelphia Weekly. Her work has also appeared on salon.com and in other publications. A native of Philadelphia, she now lives with her husband in Atlanta.


Reviews

AudiobooksNow review by trekfann on 2016-04-07 00:13:57

An interesting piece of American history. I imagine that if there were a book on the famous, or perhaps infamous, Storyville neighborhood in New Orleans it would be as absorbing as this book.

Goodreads review by Desiree on January 05, 2008

As a general rule of thumb, I like all books about Chicago history because there's really no way to go wrong with tales about our city. So I'd been wanting to read this book since it was released, and finally, my most excellent book club the Literary Brats got down to it. So I also think you'd really......more

Goodreads review by Alice on March 09, 2008

"I want to stress that this is a work of nonfiction; every character I describe lived and breathed, if not necessarily thrived, on the Levee's mean streets," writes author Karen Abbott in her introduction. What immediately bothered me about the book, though, was the extent to which Karen Abbott took......more

Goodreads review by robin on March 23, 2024

Chicago Vice Prostitution was rampant in urban America at the turn of the 20th Century with the influx of immigrants from foreign countries and rural areas, poor wages for young working women, and a repressive standard of sexual morality. Many cities had laws declaring prostitution illegal, but in fa......more

Goodreads review by Scott on March 18, 2014

It's hard to believe that there was a time in American history where many of the major cities not only had open brothels but whole districts devoted to them. Prostitution was a business, and a flourishing one at that. One brothel in particular, the Everleigh Club in Chicago during the turn of the ce......more