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 shadows."
"---- Time Out Chicago "
"[Abbott's] research enables the kind of vivid description a la
fellow journalist Erik Larson's "The Devil in the White City" that
make what could be a dry historic account an intriguing
read."
- "Seattle Times"
"Abbott tells her story with just the right mix of relish and
restraint, providing a piquant guide to a world of sexuality" ----
"The Atlantic""
"
"A rollicking tale from a more vibrant time: history to a ragtime
beat."
- "Kirkus Reviews"
"With gleaming prose and authoritative knowledge Abbott elucidates
one of the most colorful periods in American history, and the
result reads like the very best fiction. Sex, opulence, murder --
What's not to love?"
---- Sara Gruen, author of "Water for Elephants""
"
"A detailed and intimate portrait of the Ritz of brothels, the
famed Everleigh Club of turn-of-the-century Chicago. Sisters Minna
and Ada attracted the elites of the world to such glamorous
chambers as the Room of 1,000 Mirrors, complete with a reflective
floor. And isn't Minna's advice to her resident prostitutes worthy
advice for us all: "Give, but give interestingly and with
mystery."'
---- Erik Larson, author of "The Devil in the White City
"
"
""Karen Abbott has combined bodice-ripping salaciousness with
top-notch scholarship to produce a work more vivid than a Hollywood
movie."
---- Melissa Fay Greene, author of "There is No Me Without You ""
"""Sin in the Second Cit"y is a masterful history lesson, a
harrowing biography, and - best of all - a superfun read. The
Everleigh story closely follows the turns of American history like
a little sister. I can't recommend this book loudly enough."
---- Darin Strauss, author of "Chang and Eng "
"This is a story of debauchery and corruption, but it is also a
story of sisterhood, and unerring devotion. Meticulously
researched, and beautifully crafted, "Sin in the Second City" is an
utterly captivating piece of history."
---- Julian Rubinstein, author of "Ballad of the Whiskey
Robber"
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