Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul
Author:
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, History, Health, Fitness & Dieting
Book Type: Paperback
Author:
Genres: Biographies & Memoirs, History, Health, Fitness & Dieting
Book Type: Paperback
What do you do when you're drawn to a book like this because it literally lists a bunch of things you are super interested in historically AND it all takes place in your favorite city in the world? You read it.
What do you do when it's just the biggest disappointment you probably have ever had in non-fiction? I can't figure that out yet.
This book sets itself up to be about Minna & Ada Everleigh, the proprietors of the Everleigh Club in Chicago in the early 1900s. Infamous for being one of the nicest, most expensive, and most extravagant brothels of it's time, the subject matter seems like it should be teeming with intrigue. Somehow, Abbott has digested all of her research and sort of vomited it out onto 300-odd pages of what I found to be nearly unreadable drivel.
There is no story here. Abbott writes chronologically, but she introduces dozens of characters and we never really see anyone's story from start to finish. The entire book reads like tiny anecdotes about brothel owners and patrons, politicians, and men of god who were sort of all in the Levee district at about the same time. Their stories are connected in a way, but not enough to be weaved together into a larger coherent story.
Perhaps the biggest problem I had with Abbott's work is her characterizations. She "directly quotes" things people said to each other, privately, in 1900...?? She also often describes things like "she tilted her head questioningly" or the look on someone's face as if either 1) she herself was present or 2) this is all bunch of bullshit/fiction. This is playing hard and fast with the idea of "history" and as a historian it made me INCREDIBLY uncomfortable.
Minna and Ada and their club is the most interesting thing you'll find in this book, unfortunately their "story" only makes up about 15% of the pages.
What do you do when it's just the biggest disappointment you probably have ever had in non-fiction? I can't figure that out yet.
This book sets itself up to be about Minna & Ada Everleigh, the proprietors of the Everleigh Club in Chicago in the early 1900s. Infamous for being one of the nicest, most expensive, and most extravagant brothels of it's time, the subject matter seems like it should be teeming with intrigue. Somehow, Abbott has digested all of her research and sort of vomited it out onto 300-odd pages of what I found to be nearly unreadable drivel.
There is no story here. Abbott writes chronologically, but she introduces dozens of characters and we never really see anyone's story from start to finish. The entire book reads like tiny anecdotes about brothel owners and patrons, politicians, and men of god who were sort of all in the Levee district at about the same time. Their stories are connected in a way, but not enough to be weaved together into a larger coherent story.
Perhaps the biggest problem I had with Abbott's work is her characterizations. She "directly quotes" things people said to each other, privately, in 1900...?? She also often describes things like "she tilted her head questioningly" or the look on someone's face as if either 1) she herself was present or 2) this is all bunch of bullshit/fiction. This is playing hard and fast with the idea of "history" and as a historian it made me INCREDIBLY uncomfortable.
Minna and Ada and their club is the most interesting thing you'll find in this book, unfortunately their "story" only makes up about 15% of the pages.
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