Spectacular Wickedness: Sex, Race, and Memory in Storyville, New Orleans

by Emily Epstein Landau

From 1897 to 1917 the red-light district of Storyville commercialized and even thrived on New Orleans's 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.
Storyville's founding was envisioned as a reform measure, an effort by the city's business elite to curb and contain prostitution -- namely, to segregate it. In 1890, the Louisiana legislature passed the Separate Car Act, which, when challenged by New Orleans's Creoles of color, led to the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896, constitutionally sanctioning the enactment of "separate but equal" laws. The concurrent partitioning of both prostitutes and blacks worked only to reinforce Storyville's libidinous license and turned sex across the color line into a more lucrative commodity.
By looking at prostitution through the lens of patriarchy and demonstrating how gendered racial ideologies proved crucial to the remaking of southern society in the aftermath of the Civil War, 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.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Race, Womens, Jazz, Sexuality

337 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 14, 2013

Reviews

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Book

First off, Spectacular Wickedness is an academic work and it shows. For someone who enjoys non-fiction and has experience reading academic papers and such this is a great read, especially if you're already familiar with the turn of the century South. If you're just picking this up out of prurient interest and/or don't have any affinity for history, sociology, anthropology, etc, this is not going to be the book for you. This is not the book's fault; it does what it says on the tin.

Now that that's out of the way.

I really enjoyed this. I've never gotten to go to New Orleans, but I spent many months each summer in Mobile, another originally French-settled Gulf city, all the way through my teens. That influence is still there, even if not as pointed as in New Orleans, so it wasn't completely foreign to me going in.

I do feel that understanding race relations in the post-reconstruction South is essentially to fully grasping the reality of Storyville. Landau does touch on it, and to be fair the topic is several books worth of analysis on its own, but I feel given how much Storyville relied on sex tourism that expanding the historical concept would have helped.

The biggest issue I had with this book was that it was frequently repetitive. The fact that sex was for sale in Storyville and that Octoroons were a huge draw was explicitly stated at least three or four times a chapter. A more ruthless editor was definitely needed.

Where I felt the book really worked best was the chapter on Lulu White. After a plethora of exposition and analysis, Landau discusses the life of one particular madam, Lulu White. After a lot of general information this case study so-to-speak really crystallized that. It made me want to read more about the individuals in Storyville.

Another thing I liked was the bits of the story of jazz. Landau uses several quotes from jazz songs and performers to describe and contextualize Storyville and very unsubtly points out how our modern-day concept of the birthplace of jazz is incredibly shortsighted and sanitized.

The Narration

The narration for Spectacular Wickedness was solidly decent. Howlett's pacing was reasonable, pronunciation was mostly okay though I'm sure a New Orleans native could find things to pick at, and her tone was balanced. Another reviewer mentioned this was like listening to a good professor and I'd have to agree. I'd happily listen to other works from her.

Disclaimer

I received this audiobook for free in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions are entirely my own.

[Redsteve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written and interesting. but obviously an expanded dissertation. So, be warned, it makes for fairly dry reading, especially when compared to the subject matter and title. On the other hand, it's much more readable then the impression given in the introduction, which is MUCH drier, and includes such exciting passages as "This book is concerned with the development and proliferation of hegemonic discourses and their actualization, through sex, in Storyville." However, push on through the introduction and the rest of the book is more accessible to the general reader. Includes discussion of evolving attitudes and laws (locally, in the South in general, and nationally) towards race and respectability during the approximately 20 years of Storyville's existence. 3.5 stars.

[Shoshana Hathaway · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spectacular Wickedness challenges the history you believe you know of the founding of the jazz era in Storyville district of New Orleans. Landau outlines how the ideals of masculinity held during slavery carried over into the turn of the century contributing to the extraordinary culture New Orleans is known for. These ideals combined with separate but equal laws and city officials desire to attract people to the city created a unique culture in Storyville. Racism and sexism runs rampant. These same elements resulted in the decline of the very culture they created 20 years later.

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.

[Deedra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good read.Lee Ann Howlett narrates it nicely.This is the story of how Storyville came to be and how it was both legal and illegal.Its the story of racism in New Orleans and how it was normalized to suit the people who wanted to get around it.I was given this book free for an honest review.

[Rosie · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you can get past the repetitive academic conventions ("to be sure," ranked high in place of "indeed," in this one) this is not a bad book. The central argument is that despite the conception of New Orleans as a progressive, let-the-good-times-roll, laissez-faire city in the public imagination/memory, it was deeply marked by attempts to create a "respectable" city that served white supremacy and the Jim Crow order. The author uses the history of Storyville, New Orleans' city-sanctioned red-light district to support this claim and argues that it was less an opportunity to upset power balances (via sex "across the color line") and more a re-creation of antebellum social order where white Americans subjugated Black bodies. Maybe it is a problem of available sources, but I would've liked more detail on the day to day lives of people during this time in place of broad social context, especially because the author ends the entire book with a call to "remember the ladies." Outside of one captivating chapter on Lulu White, it's a shame that we don't really get a sense of who the women actually were.

[Kristal · Rating 2 out of 5]

I normally love New Orleans based books. However, this was not as I expected. I wanted stories of Storyville and the people that made it. But what I got was an overwhelming array of facts on top of facts on top of facts. I felt as though I were studying for a college course again. Just wasn’t my cup of tea.

[Marie Piper · Rating 3 out of 5]

A richly detailed historical read--a little dry in places, which was surprising given the subject matter-but a book I'll keep on my shelf to use for future research, and one I'd suggest to people who wanted to learn more about the subject.

[Peter Kalnin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historical Visit to the District

This is a good historical explanation of the life of Storyville, NOLA. It covers lots of anecdotal tales without salacious details (shucks!)

Narration is accurate and sufficient.

[Kevin Peters · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read but sometimes dry

Good complete telling of the history of both Storyville and New Orleans itself. A bit of a thesis rather than a flesh and bones account. Ironic not a pulp novel rather a history. Dedicated readers will find it interesting but seldom compelling.

[Evan Williamson · Rating 4 out of 5]

dry and academic, but with in depth and sometimes surprising information and a good point of view

[Bianca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like Boomtown Saloons, we see the rich history brothel investigation can give us on gender, class and race relations. Exploring Storyville, the original red-light district of New Orleans, in the late 1800s to early 1900s, we are presented with a space that acted differently than the rest of the nation. In some ways prostitutes and madames were given more freedom in this one area of town than they would have had anywhere else in the US at the time. Race and heritage has major implications for power and status, but the exoticization of mixed-race children was appealing to Storyville patrons, but race, more often than not, resulted in negative experiences and treatment. The district is also credited as the birthplace of Jazz because of the amount of saloons and brothels that required music.

Landau weaves us a sweeping description of a place we can no longer visit or experience, but that somehow, between the dusty pages in archives and urban legend, has survived.

[The Advocate]

"'Spectacular Wickedness' explores the history of Storyville from 1897 to 1917, offering liquor, gambling, jazz music, and, of course, the main attraction: sex. Landau touches on the racial history of New Orleans and then focuses on some of the major players of the era, in particular Lulu White, the so-called 'Diamond Queen' of the demi-monde, Storyville’s most infamous madam who specialized in offering 'octoroon' prostitutes at Mahogany Hall, her Basin Street bordello."
Read more here.

[University of Chicago Magazine]

Emiliy Epstein Landau, AB'93
Author

From our pages (Mar–Apr/13): From 1897 to 1917, the New Orleans red light district Storyville commercialized and thrived on the city's reputation for debauchery and sexual excess. Emily Epstein Landau examines Storyville's social history during the post-Reconstruction era through a diverse cast of characters, including the influential madam Lulu White. Storyville, Landau argues, was a stage on which cultural fantasies of white supremacy and patriarchal power played out.

[Georgina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Challenges narrative of New Orleans and Storyville's exceptionalism by rooting its development and commercialism in developing culture of race distinctiveness represented by the Plessy v. Ferguson decision.

[ElleDee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! This book is heavy with facts, dates, and details but it really is a fascinating read.

[em sky-walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book that looks at the Storyville district in New Orleans through a lens of race and masculinity in American culture. Lots of food for thought and an overall fantastic book.

[Abbey · Rating 4 out of 5]

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