A review by booksnooksandcooks
The Ghosts of Eden Park: The Bootleg King, the Women Who Pursued Him, and the Murder That Shocked Jazz-Age America by Karen Abbott
3.0
In an inadvertent act of sentimentality, I began my college career with a Karen Abbott book (Sin in the Second City) and I ended it with this. In the four years of classes and research I’ve done, I have had Abbott’s three nonfiction books with me.
Unfortunately, I have also become more shrewd in my historical readings and historiographies. I recognize things that I like and things I don’t based off what I’ve learned in my classes. It’s apparent to me, at least, that Abbott is a writer first and history enjoyer second. She is not a historian and it shows. The sourcing is muddled and writing more lyrical than factual. It’s a fun read, but it errs on the side of fanciful fiction rather than effective nonfiction.
Perhaps I’ll revisit Abbott if she continues to put out nonfictions. I appreciate her focus on women in American history. I think she’s a good author for those who enjoy historical nonfiction, but who aren’t too focused on the minute details and semantics that academia drills into an individual.
Unfortunately, I have also become more shrewd in my historical readings and historiographies. I recognize things that I like and things I don’t based off what I’ve learned in my classes. It’s apparent to me, at least, that Abbott is a writer first and history enjoyer second. She is not a historian and it shows. The sourcing is muddled and writing more lyrical than factual. It’s a fun read, but it errs on the side of fanciful fiction rather than effective nonfiction.
Perhaps I’ll revisit Abbott if she continues to put out nonfictions. I appreciate her focus on women in American history. I think she’s a good author for those who enjoy historical nonfiction, but who aren’t too focused on the minute details and semantics that academia drills into an individual.