Karen Abbott

A history of America's most famous brothel, Chicago's Everleigh Club, which catered to some of America's leading moguls, actors, and writers from 1900 to 1911, profiles its aristocratic proprietors and their efforts to elevate the industry to new heights and details the efforts by both rivals and crusading reformers to close the establishment. 60,000 first printing.

Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul

Sin in the Second City

John Balek

I'm always excited to read a history book about Chicago. "Sin in the Second City" covers an interesting era of Chicago history that is rarely covered; post World's Fair, pre Al Capone. 

"Sin in the Second City" discusses Chicago's red light district of the early 20th century. It does a great job of balancing the eccentric lifestyle of the Levee District and the realities of prostitution and human trafficking of the era. 

With this being said, I felt that this book was sparse in it's engaging moments. I found myself loosing interest after the first 100 pages and felt there wasn't enough information to warrant its length. I realize a subject like this doesn't have a lot of documented information due to cultural perceptions of the time. While I really enjoyed learning about the Everleigh sister's I didn't think many of the other "characters" were as interesting and were given more attention than what was needed. 

The way in which this book is written is laid out like a narrative, painting the series of events out as if they were being described by someone actually there. While I appreciate someone trying a different storytelling style in the genre of non-fiction history, it gets to the point where you wish you could have the internal thoughts and emotions of the characters in the moment. Abbott does a great job of keeping this a book just to the facts and if she were to go further into describing the characters it would enter the territory of historical fiction. It's not that I truly want this but given the narrative direction of the book it has you wishing you had more depth to the "characters" as it would make the reading more engaging.

This book reminded me of a Religion in America course I took in college in which we learned about how puritan ideology has formulated so many of our laws and values. Considering I was already familiar with this concept it wasn't as eyeopening for me as it would a reader coming blind to this subject. I would still highly recommend this book to anyone looking to learn more about Chicago history (especially in the turn of the century), religious influence in America, and prostitution/human trafficking

Tracey O’Rourke

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.

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

Reviews

Highlights