Book-It '10! Book #33
The Fifty Books Challenge, year two! This was suggested to me by my father.
Title: Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul by Karen Abbott
Details: Copyright 2007, Random House
Synopsis (By Way of Front Flap): "Step into the perfumed parlors of the Everleigh Club, the most famous brothel in American history-and a 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. "How is my boy?" Madam Minna always asked, and it wasn't long before her boy was quite well, indeed. Courtesans named Doll, Diamond Bertha, 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 philosophy 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 whipped 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. It was a furor that 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 real-life cast of characters that includes Jack Johnson, Edgar Lee Masters, John D. Rockefeller Jr., William Howard Taft, and Al Capone, Sin in the Second City is a colorful, nuanced portrait of the iconic Everleigh sisters, their world-famous Club, and the perennial clash between our 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 20th century modernity."
Why I Wanted to Read It: I had heard about the Everleigh Club and it sounded fascinating. I've also had a bit of a thing for Chicago recently what with my aforementioned interest in Dixie Square Mall.
How I Liked It: The book encompasses a turbulent era not generally mentioned in popular history (and certainly none you'd read in school) through the story of two innovative sisters. "Insider" information about not only the Everleigh club but about prostitution houses in general is presented and is fascinating. The concept of "white slavery" and the concept of "segregation" (meaning something other than it would in the mid-twentieth century) is explored along with propaganda. The book teams with characters in every sense of the word.
But frankly, Abbott never engages the reader deeply enough for this to read as the riveting story it should be. A type of Cliff's Notes of characters are featured at the beginning of the book, as though Abbott knows it'll be hard keeping them straight.
The only characters she goes into in any kind of real detail or spends time committing to the reader are what could be called the main characters, the Everleigh sisters. And even this sympathy is more about quantity of time spent rather than quality.
Still, even if Abbott doesn't shape this into the story it could be, it's nonetheless a fascinating book and certainly one for enthusiasts of the history of sex (very necessary) and the history of Chicago. The author's prose, if not engaging enough with characters, works nicely when describing what was arguably more famous than the employees of the house itself: the decor (including "puddle deep carpets" and a $10,000 piano). And the book's tracing of the history of the crusade against the white slave trade (and how prostitutes were perceived by the mainstream culture) is chilling, compelling stuff.
Notable: The club catered to a variety of stars of the day, but the book tells the story of Jack Johnson, the first black world heavyweight boxing champion, who came by one night with his manager (who also happened to be deeply entrenched in the underworld of Chicago politics, collecting graft payments from various high-ranking figures, including nearly $800 a month from the sisters themselves).
"The sisters didn't consider themselves prejudiced. Minna, after all, never forgot why she lost her religion-- the day a Negro burned to death in her Virginia hometown and she watched, sickened, as white children lined the pews of the church to snicker at the sight of his charred bones.
'Even if I am a Virginian,' Minna later explained, "I am not intolerant. But I do know that every colored woman hates every white woman... I know colored women, and they would kill white women who took their men... In his heart, every colored man hates white men. That's a reality. I don't believe in illusions... And as for Desdemona kissing Paul Robeson in Othello, that I don't wish to see.'
But the sisters knew they had to be careful; any misstep or lapse in judgment could impugn their house. Inviting Scott Joplin to play ragtime for an evening alongside Vanderpool Vanderpool was one thing; inviting Joplin to climb the stairs with the choicest girls in Chicago was quite another. " (pg 180)
When Minna Everleigh politely told Johnson's manager that she couldn't let him in, he subtly pointed out his influence in other areas of protection, and thus Minna, her hands tied, admitted Johnson into the club.
It turns out the girls (or "butterflies" as the Everyleigh prostitutes were known) found the boxer utterly charming.
"They marveled at his physique, the camel hump of his biceps. They giggled at his jokes, slipped their dainty hands in his." (pg 180)
Johnson invited five of them for a ride in his big shiny touring car and they eagerly agreed. The following afternoon, word had spread that Jack Johnson was coming by again to pick up the girls. Minna took each one aside and cautioned her to refuse Johnson's offer. If they were found in company of the boxer, in "direct violation of her and Ada's wishes, they'd lose the best job they ever had." (pg 181)
It turns out all five disobeyed and were spotted by a loyal lieutenant the sisters had trailing the girls. Minna kept her word and all five were fired.
Of the five girls was Belle Schreiber, who would become a sometime Johnson paramour and who would later testify against him (many, including some historians, have speculated out of jealousy) in court when he was arrested in 1912 under the Mann Act ("transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes") for his relationship with his fiancé Lucille Cameron, who was at the time a prostitute.
Title: Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul by Karen Abbott
Details: Copyright 2007, Random House
Synopsis (By Way of Front Flap): "Step into the perfumed parlors of the Everleigh Club, the most famous brothel in American history-and a 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. "How is my boy?" Madam Minna always asked, and it wasn't long before her boy was quite well, indeed. Courtesans named Doll, Diamond Bertha, 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 philosophy 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 whipped 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. It was a furor that 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 real-life cast of characters that includes Jack Johnson, Edgar Lee Masters, John D. Rockefeller Jr., William Howard Taft, and Al Capone, Sin in the Second City is a colorful, nuanced portrait of the iconic Everleigh sisters, their world-famous Club, and the perennial clash between our 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 20th century modernity."
Why I Wanted to Read It: I had heard about the Everleigh Club and it sounded fascinating. I've also had a bit of a thing for Chicago recently what with my aforementioned interest in Dixie Square Mall.
How I Liked It: The book encompasses a turbulent era not generally mentioned in popular history (and certainly none you'd read in school) through the story of two innovative sisters. "Insider" information about not only the Everleigh club but about prostitution houses in general is presented and is fascinating. The concept of "white slavery" and the concept of "segregation" (meaning something other than it would in the mid-twentieth century) is explored along with propaganda. The book teams with characters in every sense of the word.
But frankly, Abbott never engages the reader deeply enough for this to read as the riveting story it should be. A type of Cliff's Notes of characters are featured at the beginning of the book, as though Abbott knows it'll be hard keeping them straight.
The only characters she goes into in any kind of real detail or spends time committing to the reader are what could be called the main characters, the Everleigh sisters. And even this sympathy is more about quantity of time spent rather than quality.
Still, even if Abbott doesn't shape this into the story it could be, it's nonetheless a fascinating book and certainly one for enthusiasts of the history of sex (very necessary) and the history of Chicago. The author's prose, if not engaging enough with characters, works nicely when describing what was arguably more famous than the employees of the house itself: the decor (including "puddle deep carpets" and a $10,000 piano). And the book's tracing of the history of the crusade against the white slave trade (and how prostitutes were perceived by the mainstream culture) is chilling, compelling stuff.
Notable: The club catered to a variety of stars of the day, but the book tells the story of Jack Johnson, the first black world heavyweight boxing champion, who came by one night with his manager (who also happened to be deeply entrenched in the underworld of Chicago politics, collecting graft payments from various high-ranking figures, including nearly $800 a month from the sisters themselves).
"The sisters didn't consider themselves prejudiced. Minna, after all, never forgot why she lost her religion-- the day a Negro burned to death in her Virginia hometown and she watched, sickened, as white children lined the pews of the church to snicker at the sight of his charred bones.
'Even if I am a Virginian,' Minna later explained, "I am not intolerant. But I do know that every colored woman hates every white woman... I know colored women, and they would kill white women who took their men... In his heart, every colored man hates white men. That's a reality. I don't believe in illusions... And as for Desdemona kissing Paul Robeson in Othello, that I don't wish to see.'
But the sisters knew they had to be careful; any misstep or lapse in judgment could impugn their house. Inviting Scott Joplin to play ragtime for an evening alongside Vanderpool Vanderpool was one thing; inviting Joplin to climb the stairs with the choicest girls in Chicago was quite another. " (pg 180)
When Minna Everleigh politely told Johnson's manager that she couldn't let him in, he subtly pointed out his influence in other areas of protection, and thus Minna, her hands tied, admitted Johnson into the club.
It turns out the girls (or "butterflies" as the Everyleigh prostitutes were known) found the boxer utterly charming.
"They marveled at his physique, the camel hump of his biceps. They giggled at his jokes, slipped their dainty hands in his." (pg 180)
Johnson invited five of them for a ride in his big shiny touring car and they eagerly agreed. The following afternoon, word had spread that Jack Johnson was coming by again to pick up the girls. Minna took each one aside and cautioned her to refuse Johnson's offer. If they were found in company of the boxer, in "direct violation of her and Ada's wishes, they'd lose the best job they ever had." (pg 181)
It turns out all five disobeyed and were spotted by a loyal lieutenant the sisters had trailing the girls. Minna kept her word and all five were fired.
Of the five girls was Belle Schreiber, who would become a sometime Johnson paramour and who would later testify against him (many, including some historians, have speculated out of jealousy) in court when he was arrested in 1912 under the Mann Act ("transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes") for his relationship with his fiancé Lucille Cameron, who was at the time a prostitute.