Title: Sin in the Second City : madams, ministers, playboys, and the battle for America's soul /
Authors: Abbott, Karen, 1973-
Publisher: Random House,
Year: 2007
Subjects: Everleigh, Ada.; Everleigh, Minna.; Everleigh Club.; Prostitution Illinois Chicago; Brothels Illinois Chicago.
Abstract: A vivid snapshot of America's journey from Victorian-era propriety to 20th-century modernity. Step into the perfumed parlors of the Everleigh Club, the most famous brothel in American history--and the catalyst for a culture war that rocked the nation. Operating in Chicago at the dawn of the 20th century, the Club welcomed moguls and actors, senators and athletes, foreign dignitaries and literary icons into a stately double mansion, and the Everleigh sisters treated their girls far better than most madams. But not everyone appreciated their attempts to elevate the industry. Their most daunting foes were the Progressive Era reformers, who sent the country into a frenzy with lurid tales of "white slavery"--the allegedly rampant practice of kidnapping young girls and forcing them into brothels. This furor shaped America's sexual culture and had repercussions all the way to the White House, including the formation of the FBI.--From publisher description.
Contents: Author's note: The girls who disappeared -- Cast of characters -- Prologue: Angels of the line -- Pt. 1. The scarlet sisters Everleigh. Striped skunk and wild onions ; Another Uncle Tom's cabin ; Getting Everleighed ; The demon of lust lies in wait ; Lovely little lies ; The stories everyone knew ; Lords and ladies of the levee ; Great in religion, great in sin ; Knowing your Balzac ; Invocation ; Millionaire playboy shot - accident or murder? -- Pt. 2. Flesh and bone, body and soul. Midnight toil and peril ; Ultra décolleté and other evils ; The brilliant entrance to hell itself ; The tragedy of Mona Marshall ; Men and their baser mischiefs ; Dispatch from the U.S. Immigration Commission ; More immoral than heathen China ; The organizer ; It don't never get good until three in the morning ; Dispatch from the U.S. Immigration Commission ; Judgment days ; Have you a girl to spare? ; Dispatch from the U.S. Immigration Commission ; So many nice young men ; Immoral purposes, whatever those are -- Pt. 3. Fighting for the protection of our girls. Millionaire playboy dead - morphine or madam? ; Girls gone wrong ; A lost soul ; The social evil in Chicago ; Painted, peroxided, bedizened ; You get everything in a lifetime ; Dangerous elements ; Just how wicked ; Fallen is Babylon ; Little lost sister.