Priscilla & Babe: From Slavery's Shackles to Millionaire Bordello Madams in Victorian Saint Louis - Softcover

Julius K. Hunter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0990597482 ISBN 13: 9780990597483

Publisher: Bluebird Publishing, 2014

Synopsis

In this intriguing novel, veteran broadcaster, author, and St. Louis icon Julius Hunter brings history back to life. Perhaps no one else would dare tempt the reading audience with the salacious and titillating details of two African American St. Louis madams --freshly emancipated from cotton plantations--in the way that Hunter has with this audacious work. By inserting the real-life characters of Priscilla Henry and Sarah "Babe" Connor into the historical narrative of the staid, stodgy, and culturally contradictory Victorian era in St. Louis, Hunter investigates and chronicles the underbelly of the African American experience in the late 19th century. Such a rendering contributes greatly to the literature of the period by adding depth and nuance to what is conventionally accepted as black life. Hunter asks the difficult question: what is success for those who have been severely oppressed in a capitalist and racist society? In covering the travails of Henry and Connor, Hunter hits at the modern notion of intersectionality by analyzing the role of race, gender, and sexuality. In essence, Hunter's story is most American with its inclusion of sex, politics, sex, racism, sex, and money.

About this title

About the Author

During his illustrious 33-year career as an award-winning broadcast and print journalist, Julius Hunter has confounded any typecasting of his published works. Nobody yet has been able to track his eclectic tastes that have run the gamut between a popular children's alphabet book, to a college textbook on broadcast journalism, to two best seller coffee table favorites featuring the magnificent mansions of St. Louis. He has also written an engaging autobiography, a book on his family's up-from slavery history, a lively university alma mater song, and a comprehensive guide to digging for family roots. And now Hunter's first novel! This is a true-life, creative non-fiction saga of two remarkable African American women whose shocking rags to millions triumphant tragedies might well have remained buried for all eternity, but for Hunter's inquiring mind and probing investigative skills. Meet Madam Priscilla and Madam Babe.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bluebird Publishing
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0990597482
• ISBN 13: 9780990597483
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 350