Home to the notorious "Blue Book," which listed the names and addresses of every prostitute living in the city, New Orleans's infamous red-light district gained a reputation as one of the most raucous in the world. But the New Orleans underworld consisted of much more than the local bordellos. It was also well known as the early gambling capital of the United States, and sported one of the most violent records of street crime in the country. In The French Quarter, Herbert Asbury, author of The Gangs of New York, chronicles this rather immense underbelly of "The Big Easy." From the murderous exploits of Mary Jane "Bricktop" Jackson and Bridget Fury, two prostitutes who became famous after murdering a number of their associates, to the faux-revolutionary "filibusters" who, backed by hundreds of thousands of dollars of public support—though without official governmental approval—undertook military missions to take over the bordering Spanish regions in Texas, the French Quarter had it all. Once again, Asbury takes the reader on an intriguing, photograph-filled journey through a unique version of the American underworld.
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"For any true-crime collection." -- Library Journal, July 2003
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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful-With Caveats,
By A Customer
This review is from: The French Quarter: An Informal History of the New Orleans Underworld (Paperback)
This book stops at 1917 with the closing of Storyville, and was first published in 1938. If at all possible, buy a good original printing. The trade paperback now out has poor, small reproductions of the original illustrations. This is a wonderful, engaging, laugh-out-loud book to be read time and time again. However, it has some factual errors. Asbury implies that Storyville was in the French Quarter-it was not. He also repeats verbatim some "legends" that were invented long after the fact. If you want a correct history of Storyville, see Al Rose's book.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I Loved This Book,
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This review is from: The French Quarter: An Informal History of the New Orleans Underworld (Paperback)
I am so happy this book is being reprinted! I had a copy some years back and howled with laughter at the antics of some the the Quarter's historic gangs, crooks, and ne'er-do-wells. If you are planning your first trip to New Orlean's, this book is a must read, or if you just want to sit back and have a good time and be tickled by some truly amazing characters (like Bricktop) and their pecadillos, buy this book.
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A daring book of its day,
By
This review is from: French Quarter: An Informal History of the New Orleans Underworld (Hardcover)
Herbert Asbury must have been the daring writer of his day, daring to approach topics such as the red light district of New Orleans and the flesh trade in books that have retained a cult following to this day. In somewhat florrid prose, he manages to present a fairly accurate history of the French Quarter, its denizens, and chatacters, includong voodoo queens and madams and the social climates that shaped it. It portrays the politics and characters, the scoundrals and the thiefs. The book is as much a part of the era in which it was written, although New Orleans is a bit removed from the social climes of the rest of the country. It is a facinating portrait of a n era and a place that is a delight to visit for a time.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
THE DEVELOPMENT of the New Orleans of legend and tradition began during the administration of the French Governor the Marquis de Vaudreuil (1743-53), with its gaudy social functions, widespread governmental corruption, and the tolerance with which lapses from the strict moral code were regarded. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
flatboat crews, flatboat men, quadroon women, assignation house, cargo box Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New Orleans, United States, New York, Civil War, Kate Townsend, Marie Laveau, Gallatin Street, Vigilance Committee, North Basin, Fanny Sweet, French Quarter, Grand Terre, Captain Duncan, Jackson Square, Mississippi Company, City Hall, Jean Lafitte, Mayor Waterman, Charles Avenue, Customhouse Street, Royal Street, Congo Square, Hattie Hamilton, Madame Lalaurie, Marquis de Vaudreuil New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
THE DEVELOPMENT of the New Orleans of legend and tradition began during the administration of the French Governor the Marquis de Vaudreuil (1743-53), with its gaudy social functions, widespread governmental corruption, and the tolerance with which lapses from the strict moral code were regarded. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
flatboat crews, flatboat men, quadroon women, assignation house, cargo box Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New Orleans, United States, New York, Civil War, Kate Townsend, Marie Laveau, Gallatin Street, Vigilance Committee, North Basin, Fanny Sweet, French Quarter, Grand Terre, Captain Duncan, Jackson Square, Mississippi Company, City Hall, Jean Lafitte, Mayor Waterman, Charles Avenue, Customhouse Street, Royal Street, Congo Square, Hattie Hamilton, Madame Lalaurie, Marquis de Vaudreuil New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 35
books:
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25
books
cite this book:
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- Forty Years a Gambler on the Mississippi by George Devol on page 223, and Back Matter
- Autobiographical Sketches and Recollections (American Biography Series) by Theodore Clapp on page 294, and Back Matter
- Civil War by Douglas Welsh on page 345, and page 346
- My Diary North and South by William Howard Russell in Back Matter
- Robin Hood (New Method Supplementary Reader. Stage 1) on page 157
See all 35 books this book cites
- Sustaining New Orleans: Literature, Local Memory, and the Fate of a City by Barbara Eckstein on 5 pages
- Faces along the Bar: Lore and Order in the Workingman's Saloon, 1870-1920 (Historical Studies of Urban America) by Madelon Powers in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Business of Crime: Italians and Syndicate Crime in the United States by Humbert S. Nelli in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Al Capone: A Biography (Greenwood Biographies) by Luciano Iorizzo on page 20, and Back Matter
- The Great Southern Babylon: Sex, Race, and Respectability in New Orleans 1865-1920 by Alecia P. Long in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
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