Empire of Sin : A Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans

from TheFlamingoReads

Every city has a deliriously mad past - murder, corruption, evils of the flesh - and New Orleans is certainly no exception. In "Empire of Sin - A Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans" by Gary Krist we learn how this city moved from a complacent parish in 1890 to the r...

from schmootc

I always enjoy a good narrative nonfiction book and this one is first-rate. Thoroughly covers the formation and dismantlement of Storyville, including the beginnings of jazz and the terror caused by the axman. It's a very well-written account - I don't generally find jazz very appealing, but stil...

from mabith

Empire of Sin covers a thirty year period of New Orleans history, focusing on the vice industry which was initially legal, but sectioned off into one area of town, Storyville, in the early 1890s. To the white, New Orleans elite jazz also came under a heading of vice. I enjoyed this book, and foun...

from cblaker

This book is made up of three separate strands, Jazz, serial murders, and vice, weaved together to make a larger narrative on New Orleans during the turn of the century. The book deals with the city from 1890-1920. As the city emerges from reconstruction, members of the city's elite vie for contr...

from adamfbelcher

A very entertaining and informative book. This book reminded me a little of Devil In The White City in it's use of more than one subject (development of jazz, Storyville, and the crime in New Orleans) to construct an almost fictional style narrative. It didn't read like history at all. I have lov...