
Spectacular Wickedness
Sex, Race, and Memory in Storyville, New Orleans
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Narrated by:
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Lee Ann Howlett
From 1897 to 1917 the red-light district of Storyville commercialized and even thrived on New Orleans' longstanding reputation for sin and sexual excess. This notorious neighborhood, located just outside of the French Quarter, hosted a diverse cast of characters who reflected the cultural milieu and complex social structure of turn-of-the-century New Orleans, a city infamous for both prostitution and interracial intimacy. In particular, Lulu White, a mixed-race prostitute and madam, created an image of herself and marketed it profitably to sell sex with light-skinned women to white men of means.
In Spectacular Wickedness, Emily Epstein Landau examines the social history of this famed district within the cultural context of developing racial, sexual, and gender ideologies and practices. In 1890, the Louisiana legislature passed the Separate Car Act, which, when challenged by New Orleans' Creoles of color, led to the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896, constitutionally sanctioning the enactment of separate but equal laws. Landau reveals how Storyville's salacious and eccentric subculture played a significant role in the way New Orleans constructed itself during the New South era.
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New Orleans had a reputation for being a city of sin from it’s earliest days. Landau traces how this reputation was earned in each incarnation of the city. From the French, Creoles, and Americans, as New Orleans changed hands, it did not change its reputation. In 1897, the city passed a zoning code establishing a red light district in the hope of containing the vice to one area. The hope was if the vice was contained, visitors would see more of the honest hard working community and attract more business. This red light district became Storyville and for almost twenty years it was the wildest red light district in the country.
Landau explores the history of Storyville through primary source documentation from individuals from all points of the social and economic spectrum. The most important business in Storyville was sex. There were closet sized bordellos and very fancy upscale bordellos. The women who worked there were members of all races as were their customers. The major difference was while the sex workers may be of several different races within a bordello, the clientele would only be white or non-white. The rules concerning races were less stringent in Storyville then outside the red light district. That all changed with the advent of Jim Crow laws due to the Supreme Court ruling on Plessy vs. Ferguson which started in the New Orleans courts. Another area Landau explores is how Storyville was an incubator for Jazz. Many great jazz musicians began their careers playing at the bars, clubs or bordellos in Storyville. Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton are just two of these greats who worked there.
Lee Ann Howlett does a good job narrating Spectacular Wickedness. The subject matter is complex and dense at times. Her voice is pleasant and never goes to monotone. Her narration reminded me of a good college professor. It is similar to listening to a very good lecture.
Spectacular Wickedness is fascinating. Ms. Howlett does a fine job with it. The only reason I rated it as 4 stars for attention holding is because of the complexity of the information. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to look at a familiar topic through a new perspective.
Audiobook was provided for review the narrator.
Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog
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Spectacular Wickedness is fascinating
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Very good
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i really enjoyed this book
very informative
good book
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Not only does the book cover Storyville, but it lays out much of the race relations and history of NOLA in the hundred years preceding it. Jazz is a side item in the book as it focuses more on prostitution and efforts to control it at the turn of the century.
Good history of New Orleans 1800-1920
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Would you consider the audio edition of Spectacular Wickedness to be better than the print version?
Since, I live in New Orleans, personally I feel reading it would be better. This is only because Lee Ann Howlett is not from here and does not know how to pronounce the street names. For me it was like nails on a chalkboard. For the person outside of New Orleans, you will never notice. Beware if you come visit and want to see some of these streets, you may be saying them wrong if you follow Lee Ann's pronunciation and will be corrected fast. Not in an mean way but in a city pride way. As the book explains, we were founded by the French, and we say things much differently.Who was your favorite character and why?
New Orleans is always my favorite character in a historic book.Did Lee Ann Howlett do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?
Yes.Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
YesAny additional comments?
For any historical book about New Orleans, It would be a great idea to hire someone to read the book from this area. The street names are mispronounced in most books about New Orleans. For example: Conti does not rhyme with tea and have the emphasis on CON. The way the say it here rhymes with tie and the emphasis is on the second syllable.Native New Orleanian
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This is a fascinating, extremely disturbing sociological study, which has been written for a nonacademic audience. As with most books from University Press, the presentation is excellent in all ways.
This book openly discusses sexual matters, although it is not in the least salacious. What disturbed me most, I think, was confronting directly, by reading about it, the history of post Civil War white supremacy. Again, the author takes an objective and no holds barred look at this phenomenon, and, perhaps, it is that very objectivity which unsettled me so much.
But this is also a wonderful story about a time, place, and a thorough guided tour of one of the most famous “red light” districts in the country, and much of it was delightfully colorful and completely intriguing. Of course, I’ve always known about such districts, and, being raised in Baltimore (which had its own famous one), I had always been a bit curious. This book more than satisfied that passing curiosity.
The writing is accessible, vivid and readable, and the narration was professional and adequate to the needs of the book.
I received this book in exchange for this unbiased review via the courtesy of AudioBookBlast dot com.
The "wrong" side of town
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Storyville was known for its sex trade – specifically its trade of light skinned black women to wealthy white men. Lulu White was a well know madam in the midst of it all. Lulu was able to take advantages of this culture to become a successful entrepreneur in a time where there was little opportunity for black women. Landau paints the portrait of an interesting woman misinterpreted (or forgotten) by history.
Very interesting read. Detailed history but not overwhelming. The audiobook narrator was a perfect fit for this book.
I received this book in exchange for this unbiased review via the courtesy of AudioBookBlast dot com.
Interesting read-detailed history not overwhelming
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A classic!
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GREAT
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SpecacularWickedness
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