Praise for Empire of Sin Washington Post 's Top 10 Best Books of 2014Seattle Times Best Books of 2014Library Journal ’s Top 10 Best Books of 2014Empire of Sin [Krist] has captured the flavors and class nuances of the town. And his interwoven storylines, intentional or not, evoke a piece of jazz.”New York Times Book Review Wall Street Journal Empire of Sin had me at the subtitle—who could resist a tale that promises sex, jazz and murder in New Orleans?—and the (true) narrative brilliantly delivers. Mr. Krist guides us through a deliciously ribald time in Crescent City history, from the end of the Gilded Age to the dawn of Prohibition, when the city’s elite battled its prodigious and flamboyant underworld." Sin in the Second City and Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy Empire of Sin is Krist's meticulously researched, mesmerizing account of New Orleans' outsized vice wars. The book itself is a masterful sleight-of-hand…Moving between parallel narratives, Krist simultaneously — and elegantly — layers more than 30 years of sharply drawn Crescent City social history. It's a backdrop as lush and intricate as a Mardi Gras Ball tableaux vivant — a raucous living portrait...Krist finesses this — lifting data and record to poetry — by procuring specific, redolent details from centuries-old documents…and from them the swirl of frontier New Orleans slides into view. Krist's expansive exploration of the decadeslong battle for New Orleans' soul in the end celebrates New Orleans' character, its essence: the city's long history of defiance and resilience; its ability to pivot in the midst of disaster. Empire of Sin isn't simply the story of how New Orleans came to be, but rather how New Orleans came to learn to fight.”Chicago Tribune —Washington Post The Seattle Times The Independent (UK)Minneapolis Star Tribune " Nobody writes about decadence and disaster like Gary Krist...Krist, a superb writer of fiction as well as popular history, has re-created a time and place that we’ll never see again. Empire of Sin is packed with enough color, atmosphere and decadence to fill years of miniseries. You can almost hear Sidney Bechet’s clarinet and Louis Armstrong’s cornet floating through the pages."Dallas Morning News " New Orleans' venal turn-of-the-century past has gotten a book worthy of the rich material in Gary Krist's Empire of Sin ...Krist is masterful at presenting the material, is meticulous about sourcing."St. Louis Post Dispatch "Unsolved mysteries, murderers on the loose, and the seamy side of the big city: It’s a juicy recipe for a story...a ton of lurid color and character...vivid and thoughtful."Boston Globe —The Baton Rouge Advocate American Scholar 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 Where New Orleans "A fabulously rich and colorful chronicle of New Orleans at the turn of the century."Acadiana Lifestyle Publishers Weekly , Starred Review Library Journal , Starred Review Booklist Kirkus Reviews The Devil in the White City , Gary Krist’s exposé of New Orleans at the turn of the century…proves that truth really is stranger than fiction by detailing the prominent figures within Storyville, the Crescent City’s red-light district….Fans of Boardwalk Empire would enjoy this crime thriller as well.”Library Journal , Top 10 Editors’ Picks BEA 2014—BookPeople
…[a] well-reported and colorful tale of jazz, sex, crime and corruption. I can attest, as a native of New Orleans, that in Empire of Sin [Krist] has captured the flavors and class nuances of the town. And his interwoven story lines, intentionally or not, evoke a piece of jazz…The most interesting aspect of Krist's book is the battle between upright uptown reformers, who wished to rid New Orleans of sin and corruption, and downtown denizens, who relished the town's permissive mores. With our 21st-century sensibilities, we're expected to be appalled by the degradation and exploitation of the women of Storyville. But by the end of the book most readers will be cheering for Anderson over what Krist calls the "highly sanctimonious" temperance advocates and "self-styled champions of virtue."
The New York Times Book Review - Walter Isaacson
Krist’s memoir features Louis Armstrong, a possible serial killer, streetwalkers, politicians, prohibitionists, and, sadly, a rather dull performance by narrator Robertson Dean. Nothing in Dean’s voice reflects the liveliness of the book's subject: raucous New Orleans at the turn of the twentieth century. Dean reads straightforwardly—and there’s nothing wrong with that, necessarily, but it sure falls short of expectations for this look at a city that has, with varying degrees of success, resisted moral crusaders for well over a hundred years. The New Orleans of the book is vigorous and dynamic; Dean’s narration is not. G.S.D. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
FEBRUARY 2015 - AudioFile
2014-07-16
