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The French Quarter: An Informal History of the New Orleans Underworld
 
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The French Quarter: An Informal History of the New Orleans Underworld (Paperback)

by Herbert Asbury (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
Price: £10.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Product details

  • Paperback: 512 pages
  • Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Press; Reprint edition (6 Feb 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1560254947
  • ISBN-13: 978-1560254942
  • Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 13.7 x 3.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,082,040 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Product Description

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 supportthough without official governmental approvalundertook 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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The French Quarter: An Informal History of the New Orleans Underworld
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The French Quarter: An Informal History of the New Orleans Underworld 4.0 out of 5 stars (1)
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars N'awlins rough, 5 Jan 2006
By Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   
THE FRENCH QUARTER is a history of crime, vice, and general rascality in New Orleans from its founding in 1718 by the French to the abolition of the Storyville red-light district in 1917.

In fifteen chapters, author Herbert Asbury describes the disruptive roles played by keelboat ruffians, revolutionists, gamblers, duelists, prostitutes, corrupt cops and politicians, pirates, filibusters (soldiers of fortune), vigilantes, pickpockets, muggers, thugs, the Mafia, and voodoo practitioners in the lives of the otherwise law-abiding citizenry. Anyone reading Asbury's narrative might be led to believe that good folks were a miniscule minority.

THE FRENCH QUARTER suffers from being published almost seventy years ago. Aside from a number of old sketch reproductions, and several badly reproduced B&W photographs of bordello interiors and exteriors during the Storyville era, THE FRENCH QUARTER is sadly lacking in illustration. There's not even a map of the city from which to get one's bearings.

This work is wonderfully informative as far as it goes, perhaps occasionally more so than is needed to make the point that the city, especially in the mid-1800s, could be a noxious place. The narrative is sober and straightforward, only occasionally displaying dry humor. A couple examples from the text will suffice to give one a sense of the book's tone and the city's iniquity.

Regarding barrel-houses,the lowest form of drinking place: "The owner of one such establishment not only doped all of his liquor, but maintained his own staff of sneak thieves ... (who) worked on a percentage basis and took turns robbing the sodden wretches who were dragged from the barrel-house."

Regarding the streetwalkers of the Dauphine and Burgundy Street vice area after the Civil War:
" ... the perambulating bawds flung a piece of old carpet on the sidewalk and entertained their customers in full view of passers-by and the prostitutes in the houses ... (who) kept pails of hot water handy to discourage use of the doorsteps." Hmm, I would have thought ice water more effective at shrinking amorous ardor.

Decades after THE FRENCH QUARTER appeared, N'awlins is a model of purity. Why, would you believe me if I said you can't even spit on the street?

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