The Reviews
"Delicious... poetic... Sin in the Second City is a lush love letter to the underworld."
— The New York Times Book Review
"Lavish in her details, nicely detached in her point of view, [and with] scrupulous concern for historical accuracy, Ms. Abbott has written an immensely readable book. Sin in the Second City offers much in the way of reflection for those interested in the unending puzzle that goes by the name of human nature."
— Joseph Epstein, The Wall Street Journal
“Assiduously researched… [Sin in the Second City] describes a popular culture awash in wild tales of sexual abuse, crusading reformers claiming God on their side, and deep suspicion of the threat posed by “foreigners” to the nation’s Christian values… even this book’s minutiae, like the way the phrase 'getting Everleighed' was abbreviated into 'one of America’s bawdiest idioms,' makes for good storytelling.”
— Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“Some authors write popular history. Karen Abbott has pioneered sizzle history with Sin in the Second City … Change the hemlines, add 100 years, and the book could be filed under current affairs.”
— USA Today
“[Abbott’s] research enables the kind of vivid description à la fellow journalist Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City that make what could be a dry historic account an intriguing read."
— Seattle Times
“In the gorgeously detailed Sin in the Second City, Karen Abbott delivers up the fascinating story of the sisters juxtaposed with that of their sworn enemies, God-fearing Americans righteous in their conviction that young girls were being lured from decency and sold into white slavery.”
— New York Daily News
“Sin in the Second City is the most engaging, thoroughly researched work to be published on its subject… a rousingly racy yarn.”
—Chicago Tribune
“Abbott's story moves beyond the Everleigh sisters and their club to put their story of sin and seduction into its proper social context… the reporting and the writing make the journey well worthwhile.”
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"As her delicious and exhaustively researched book makes vividly clear, the Everleigh Club was the Taj Mahal of bordellos, with gaudily lavish decor, $650 spittoons, a gold piano, a live orchestra, a gourmet restaurant called the Pullman Buffet, a fountain that shot sprays of perfume into the air, and mirrored ceilings in each of the 30 boudoirs upstairs."
— The Chicago Sun Times
"Abbott's first book is meticulously researched and entertaining... a colorful history of old Chicago that reads like a novel."
— The Atlanta Journal Constitution
"Abbott infuses factual, historical narrative with a vital immediacy; sex, money, violence and intrigue litter its pages. All of which suggests that not only is fact sometimes stranger than fiction, but when skillfully retold it may also be far more provocative."
— Bookslut
"The book is rich with details about a fast-and-loose Chicago of the early 20th century, a city that teems with prostitution, overzealous reformers and white slavery... Sin in the Second City explores this world with gusto, throwing light on a booming city and exposing its shadows."
— Time Out Chicago
