Overview

From bestselling author Gary Krist, a vibrant and immersive account of New Orleans other civil war, at a time when commercialized vice, jazz culture, and endemic crime defined the battlegrounds of the Crescent City Empire of Sin re-creates the remarkable story of New Orleans thirty-years war against itself, pitting the city s elite better half against its powerful and long-entrenched underworld of vice, perversity, and crime. This early-20th-century battle centers on one man: Tom Anderson, the undisputed czar of the city's Storyville vice district, who fights desperately to keep his empire intact as it faces onslaughts from all sides. Surrounding him are the stories of flamboyant prostitutes, crusading moral reformers, dissolute jazzmen, ruthless Mafiosi, venal politicians, and one extremely violent serial killer, all battling for primacy in a wild and wicked city unlike any other in the world.

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9780770437077

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Reviews

Praise for Empire of Sin [A] rich, well-structured story more vivid and twist-filled than most crime fiction...Armed with both well-placed primary sources and an addictive, climactic narrative, Krist leads a perfect trip into the short-lived societal experiment aptly named Storyville. -- Publishers Weekly, starred review Empire of Sin: A Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans has something for everyone who has ever staggered down Bourbon Street with a Kindle. Krist spent a lot of time in the city's great archival collections, wondering why our funky hometown got this way. And, boy did he latch onto a story. -- New Orleans Times Picayune, 50 Fall Events Not to Miss Krist deftly weaves...a much broader tale involving race relations, prostitution, jazz, and the underworld of Italian immigrants...What keeps it going are well-crafted vignettes and deftly rendered character profiles, in which reformers aren't necessarily holy, and their targets are often possessed of considerable charm. -- American Scholar [An] in-depth, seasoned analysis of the creation, growth, and downfalls of New Orleans, particularly its colorful Storyville area, which was indeed the site of vice and murder of all sorts but also of the birth of entrepreneurships and a music unparalleled in the U.S. of the time...Krist's well-researched and -told history of New Orleans is an eye-opening tale of a melting pot.... There are characters here, genial, business-savvy, and cruel; concerted efforts to live and let live, along with lawlessness; and righteous reformers, all wrapped into a captivating history of an era and locale that ultimately touched much of America's arts, attitudes, and outlook. A fascinating, detail-filled tribute to a city and an era. -- Booklist In the vein of Erik Larson's best seller The Devil in the White City, Gary Krist's expose of New Orleans at the turn of the century...proves that truth really is stra

Author Information

GARY KRIST has written for the New York Times, Esquire, Salon, the Washington Post Book World, and elsewhere. He is the author of the bestselling City of Scoundrels and the acclaimed The White Cascade, as well as several works of fiction. He has been the recipient of the Stephen Crane Award, the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Lowell Thomas Gold Medal for Travel Journalism, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

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