Verified Document

Sin In The Second City Book Review

"Prominent Americans viewed the prince's trip as an opportunity to showcase the country's brightest thinkers and shrewdest capitalists, and to flex its developing imperial muscle" (Abbott, 73). Having set the stage brilliant vis-a-vis the official nature of the prince's visit -- and mentioning the recent American acquisitions (Hawaii and Puerto Rico) to give an international political perspective -- Abbott further raised the stakes and value of the prince's visit to the Everleigh Club. The author notes (74) the American superstars of business (J.P. Morgan, Adolphus Busch, and Charles Schwab) and the world famous American inventors (Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison) that the prince was introduced to in New York City prior to his Chicago visit. As well crafted as Abbott's build-up to the prince's attendance at the Everleigh Club is, it pales in comparison to the "slipper sipping" of champagne and the other wild goings-on at the club (76-77).

Abbott takes care to describe every event with carefully chosen narrative, and brings empathy from readers when she introduces a "virginal nymph" (133) and elicits a chuckle from readers when she quotes Minna, "A girl in our establishment is not a commodity with a market price, like a pound of butter or a leg of lamb" (198).

Section FOUR: This is a very enjoyable book, and I found it hard to put the book down and give attention to other assignments. Abbott is to be given kudos for the great descriptions of the Everleigh sisters, their employees, the high-visibility (and low-visibility) customers, the scenes that...

I had not known there was open prostitution in Chicago during this era and did not know about the "white slavery" issues either. Abbott's research is very impressive, and while buying into the nonfiction aspect of the book, a reader has to admire the deep digging Abbott did to gather the quotes from various characters. Especially in light of recent sex / prostitution scandals involving secret service members, the governor of New York, and others, and the many investigative reports of the ongoing international sex slave trade, this book is a breath of fresh air. It covers more than the life and times of two business women who had a great idea and made it work while making a lot of money; it covers some American history centered in Chicago.
In conclusion, journalist Abbott's well-crafted nonfiction narrative covering the eleven-year run of the Everleigh Club in Chicago, with its high-profile customers and its extravagant trappings, is a trip back in American history. A reader learns about the city of Chicago, and about how powerful politicians and gangsters alike have the same attraction to illicit sex. The most important points in this book: How the Levee district thrived and was later shut down; how two women entrepreneurs made history on the South Side; and how morality (seemingly) triumphed over sin.

Works Cited

Abbott, Karen. Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul. New York: Random House (2007).

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

Abbott, Karen. Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America's Soul. New York: Random House (2007).
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

City of God Augustine
Words: 2968 Length: 11 Document Type: Research Proposal

Anselm also added the passion of repentance and the exhilaration of praise to the bare texts, involving the supplicant in an intensity of feeling and a deepening of understanding. In the intensity of sorrow for sin, he is the heir of Augustine of Hippo, and the language of the Confessions is very close to Anselm's self-revelation and repentance. (McGinn, Meyendorff, and Ledercq 202) So, in City of God the textual concepts

Location of the City of
Words: 2266 Length: 8 Document Type: Research Proposal

Harris, Brown and Moore (2000) explain that in the instance depicted in Joshua 8:9, where Joshua again sent out his army, Joshua's attitude has changed. He has realized that he needed to take the threat of the enemy seriously; that to win he had to plan in accordance to and had to adhere to God's directives "on the west side of Ai" (Joshua 8:9 (NKJV) (Blue Letter Bible 2010). Joshua's neglect

Qantas Airlines Qantas Is the World's Second
Words: 4747 Length: 15 Document Type: Essay

Qantas Airlines Qantas is the world's second oldest airline. Founded in the Queensland outback in 1920, it is Australia's largest domestic and international airline and is recognized as one of the world's leading long distance carriers, having pioneered services from Australia to North America and Europe. The Qantas Groups today employs approximately 32,500 people and offers services across a network spanning 182 destination sin 44 countries (including those covered by codeshare

Gun Fu and Hong Kong Cinema
Words: 4492 Length: 13 Document Type: Essay

Bonding Over Bullets: Gun Fu is the Way to a Better Tomorrow John Woo redefined the action film genre with his 1986 Hong Kong film A Better Tomorrow. Staring the Asian TV star Chow Yun Fat and movie star Ti Lung, the film transcended the action genre already well-established in the West by using the various tropes of the genre (gangsters, the conflicted family, brother-against-brother, friend-in-peril, reformed hood, betrayal, and so

Journey Around America
Words: 4012 Length: 11 Document Type: Term Paper

However, when I visited Big Thicket National Preserve, I got an entirely different view of Texas, which actually seems to capture the essence of the state. Driving through Texas, I learned that it is an incredibly biologically diverse land, and nowhere is this biological diversity more evident than in the Big Thicket. At the park I learned that the Big Thicket has an extremely unusual level of biological diversity,

Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert's Novel
Words: 9306 Length: 30 Document Type: Term Paper

It seems to her, says Flaubert, that her being, rising toward God, is going to be annihilated in love like burning incense that dissipates in vapor. But her response during this phenomenon remains curiously erotic... The waving of the green palm leaves relates this scene to the previous scenes of sexual seduction. (Duncan para, 5) At times, the green in the novel moves from springtime to the idea of the

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now