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Paperback Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul Book

ISBN: 0812975995

ISBN13: 9780812975994

Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul

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Format: Paperback

Condition: Very Good

$4.79
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Book Overview

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 last 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 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, including the formation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 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. Visit www.sininthesecondcity.com to learn more "Delicious... Abbott describes the Levee's characters in such detail that it's easy to mistake this meticulously researched history for literary fiction." ---- New York Times Book Review " Described with scrupulous concern for historical accuracy...an immensely readable book." ---- Joseph Epstein, The Wall Street Journal "Assiduously researched... even this book's minutiae makes for good storytelling." ---- Janet Maslin, The New York Times "Karen Abbott has pioneered sizzle history in this satisfyingly lurid tale. Change the hemlines, add 100 years, and the book could be filed under current affairs." ---- USA Today "A rousingly racy yarn." - Chicago Tribune "A colorful history of old Chicago that reads like a novel... a compelling and eloquent story." ---- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "Gorgeously detailed " ---- New York Daily News "At last, a history book you can bring to the beach." ---- The Philadelphia Inquirer "Once upon a time, Chicago had a world class bordello called The Everleigh Club. Author Karen Abbott brings the opulent place and its raunchy era alive in a book that just might become this years " The Devil In the White City ." ---- Chicago Tribune Sunday Magazine (cover story) "As Abbott's delicious and exhaustively researched book makes vividly clear, the Everleigh Club was the Taj Mahal of bordellos." ---- Chicago Sun Times "The book is rich with details about a fast-and-loose Chicago of the early 20th century... Sin explores this world with gusto, throwing light on a booming city and exposing its s

Customer Reviews

11 customer ratings | 6 reviews

Rated 4 stars
A history of men and women of the Second City

A good buy and great read. Gives one the back-story of men and women during a historical period that shows the turmoil and corruption of long ago. Worth the money.

1Report

Rated 5 stars
History, Albeit Infamous

Karen Abbott has written a lively rendition about the infamous Levee district of Chicago at the turn of the 20th century. Minna and Ada Everleigh left Omaha, Nebraska, looking for another city in which to set up a den of inequity. After scouting several possibilities they settled on the notorious Levee district in Chicago, Illinois. At the time of their arrival the Lords of the Levee were an odd couple of aldermen named...

3Report

Rated 5 stars
From Crassy to Classy

When I picked up a copy of "Sin in the Second City" during a recent visit to Chicago, my initial thought was "Finally! Someone has seen the Everleigh Sisters for the roguish and riveting characters that they were and given their lives a book-length treatment." After finishing the book in less than two days, I have to conclude that no one could have done a better job than Karen Abbott did. Minna and Ada Simms were two Virginia-born...

3Report

Rated 5 stars
It's like "The Devil in the White City," but with prostitutes instead of architects

"Sin in the Second City" is a detailed journey into a part of Chicago history that some people would prefer to forget about. No, this isn't another book about a serial killer at the World's Fair: it's the story of Chicago's Levee district, the brothel-infested underworld based on the city's South side in the 1900's. Specifically, this book tells the story of the Everleigh Club, which was possibly the most famous house of ill...

3Report

Rated 5 stars
Riveting true story, as compelling as a novel

I've been completely side-swiped for days by Karen Abbott's riveting true story of the infamous Everleigh Club brothel that operated in Chicago from 1900 to 1911. Sin in the Second City reads like a novel. I had to keep reminding myself it's absolutely true. It's just so absorbing, it's easy to forget you're not reading fiction. Sisters Ada and Minna "Everleigh" (a name they assumed) were raised in privilege in a wealthy...

1Report

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