Between Reconstruction and Prohibition, Beale Street in Memphis thrived as a cauldron of sex and song, greed and race hatred-a street that inspired folk legends and reshaped American politics. Preston Lauterbach tells this story through the life of the South's first black millionaire, an ex-slave named Robert Church. With a compromised fortune gleaned from brothels and gambling houses, Church and his son bankrolled militant civil rights activism, furnished the venues where W.C. Handy invented the blues and built a powerful black political machine. Fighting to redeem themselves and their city, these vice kings clashed with the forces of Jim Crow to create a hotbed of black culture. Brilliantly researched, Beale Street Dynasty evokes a lost world of swaggering musicians, glamorous madams and ruthless politicians.

About the Author
Preston Lauterbach is the author of Bluff City, Beale Street Dynasty, The Chitlin' Circuit, a Wall Street Journal and Boston Globe book of the year, and co-author of Brother Johnson: Growing Up with Robert Johnson. He is a former visiting scholar at Rhodes College and a Virginia Humanities Fellow. He lives in Virginia.

Reviews
"...a highly enjoyable account...The minute attention to detail suggests painstaking research, but a discreet and likeable authorial presence is maintained throughout." -- Times Literary Supplement
"Adds a fascinating chapter to civil rights history." -- The New York Times Book Review
"All aspects of this complex, fascinating history are told... with verve and vivid erudition." -- Tom Nolan - The Wall Street Journal



Book Information
ISBN 9780393352139
Author Preston Lauterbach
Format Paperback
Page Count 384
Imprint WW Norton & Co
Publisher WW Norton & Co
Weight(grams) 359g
Dimensions(mm) 211mm * 140mm * 25mm