Empire of Sin - Review

[gbcmars]

You think we have a problem today with racial violence, government corruption, and embedded injustice of epic scale? Take heart. It's nothing compared to Victorian era New Orleans.

Gary Krist's book Empire of Sin: A Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans is a spellbinding piece of writing. Hard to believe it's non-fiction, but Krist used original news reports and other historical documents to craft this true story of mayhem. After a prologue, the book starts off with the murder of Josie Lobrano's brother, in front of her, at the hand of her paramour in their brothel, and the subsequent crooked trial in which said paramour is let off the hook. Things get worse from there, and continue to be worse for at least four decades, through several city administrations and various heroic attempts to clean up the mess. Between minute by minute descriptions of murders and lynching, we learn about the culture of New Orleans, the roots of jazz, the founding of Storyville, and much more.

Very highly recommended.

I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review.