Beale Street Dynasty: Sex, Song, and the Struggle for the Soul of Memphis

Wells, and Richard Wright. Beale Street Dynasty is a compelling, witty, deeply researched, and always enlightening book.” - Gary Krist, author of Empire of Sin“Lauterbach has become one of my favorite people to read on 20th-century popular music.” - John Jeremiah Sullivan, author of Pulphead. But for all the hatred it depicts, this gracefully written book never loses sight of the fun that made Handy exalt that stretch of dirt road.” - James Gavin, New York Times Book Review“All aspects of this complex, fascinating history are told with verve and vivid erudition.” - Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal“Masterful.” - David Kirby, Washington Post“Preston Lauterbach has conjured a fascinating demimonde that’s dead and gone.

A Curb Visiting Scholar in the Arts at Rhodes College, Lauterbach lives near Charlottesville in Nelson County, Virginia. Preston Lauterbach's first book, The Chitlin' Circuit: And the Road to Rock 'n' Roll was named a best book of the year by the Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and NPR.

re: feelings of happiness and sorrow John Hatcher First, as a history bluff, Beale Street Dynasty was a great read! I gained more knowledge about various popular Memphis figures, many that have streets and/or parks named after them. I regrettably read about many instances that hate reared its ugly head in the form of racism and discrimination in our city. Second, as a Christian, it was disconcerting to find out the foundation of one of the most well-known entert. "I had no idea!" according to S. Swanger. As a child growing up in Memphis in the 50's and 60's, I was vaguely aware that African-American people were badly treated in the South, but I had no idea of the degree of the mistreatment and absolutely no idea that it was going on all around me in Memphis. This book was most informative and intriguing. I am appalled at their treatment and equally appalled that NO ONE talked about it. We had Tennessee History cl. "Beale Street Dynasty" according to The Pie Dude. Here is a book that shows how Reconstruction worked (or failed) in one city following the Civil War and through the 19Beale Street Dynasty The Pie Dude Here is a book that shows how Reconstruction worked (or failed) in one city following the Civil War and through the 1940s. We find a black business empire built around vice (liquor, gambling and prostitution) by Robert Church and his son Robert, Jr. There is a political machine run by "Boss" Edward Crump, a machine more dominant than Tammany Hall or others of the period. Lynchings were common, and racial animosit. 0s. We find a black business empire built around vice (liquor, gambling and prostitution) by Robert Church and his son Robert, Jr. There is a political machine run by "Boss" Edward Crump, a machine more dominant than Tammany Hall or others of the period. Lynchings were common, and racial animosit

Wells and helped revolutionize American music through the work of composer W.C. H. The vivid history of Beale Streeta lost world of swaggering musicians, glamorous madams, and ruthless politiciansand the battle for the soul of Memphis.Following the Civil War, Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee, thrived as a cauldron of sex and song, violence and passion. 22 photographs; map. He made a fortune with saloons, gambling, andshockinglywhite prostitution. But out of this turmoil emerged a center of black progress, optimism, and cultural ferment. Robert and his son, Bob Jr., bought and sold property, founded a bank, and created a park and auditorium for their people finer than the places whites had forbidden them to attend.However, the Church family operated through a tense arrangement with the Democrat machine run by the notorious E. “Boss” Crump, who stole elections and controlled city hall. Having survived a deadly race riot in 1866, Church constructed an empire of vice in the booming river town. But he also nurtured the militant journalism of Ida B. Handy, the man who claimed to have invented the blues.In the face of Jim Crow, the Church fortune helped fashion the most powerful black political organization of the early twentieth century. Preston Lauterbach tells this vivid, fascinating story through the multigenerational saga o