Review: Broadway Butterfly by Anthony M DeStefano

Synopsis: The definitive book on one of the most notorious murders in Jazz Age New York history, that of Vivian Gordon, the high-end escort, con artist, and blackmailer connected to gangsters like “Legs” Diamond and Arnold Rothstein, whose death exposed the dark underbelly of police corruption throughout the city—from the Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist who is one of the foremost Mafia experts writing today. 

Like so many other pretty butterflies, Indiana-born Vivian Gordon fluttered to New York in 1920 looking for fame and fortune. Before long, the flame-haired chorus girl parlayed her youth, beauty, and ambition into more profitable means as a tough and glamorous symbol of Prohibition-era excess. She was a speakeasy owner, blackmailer, high-end escort, extortionist, racketeer, and con woman. But given her dangerously intimate associations—from ruthless underworld gangsters to corrupt high-ranking city officials—Vivian was also a woman who knew too much and who rightfully feared for her life. On February 26, 1931, Vivian’s bludgeoned and garroted body was found dumped in Van Cortland Park in the Bronx. 

Now, in the first in-depth biography of its kind, Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award-winning journalist Anthony M. DeStefano unravels her tumultuous life and the headline-making murder that became an obsession for many, including then-Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The evidence Vivian left behind was a diary with more than three-hundred names implicating powerful officials, philanthropists, businessmen, and every major gangland figure in collusion and corruption. The investigation eventually resulted in the career-ending investigation of James “Jimmy” Walker, disgraced mayor of New York City. Ultimately, Broadway Butterfly finally finds a place in history for Vivian, a woman with a rare legacy in gangster lore, whose demise was as tragically inevitable as the brutality of the city’s demimonde during Prohibition.

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More of a case of the author providing a central figure around which to delve into the history of the period rather than the other way around. Jazz Age New York is the star and Vivian Gordon is the understudy.

However, it is a highly compelling look at the huge amount of graft and corruption taking place in all levels of government, as well as an insight into some of the legendary characters of the period - gangsters, cops, politician and madams. The reader will not be failed to be entertained.

Nice wrap up at the end with a chapter dedicated to what happened to those key players mentioned in the book.

September 2017 Additions

Out and about today, I dropped into one of my local book sellers (yes an actual building) for a bit of a browse, and came away with these titles:

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (new Penguin edition with forward by Ian Rankin) - I've love the 1946 movie version of this work - Bogart & Bacall at their finest. Wasn't too fussed with the Mitchum & Miles version (1978).  One of the great detective movies of all time (in my humble opinion)

The Opening Night Murder by Anne Rutherford - murder in Restoration London.

The Dragon Throne by Jonathan Fenby - a history of China's emperors.

Killers of the King: The Men Who Dared To Execute Charles I by Charles Spencer (brother of the late Lady Di) - story of Charles II quest for revenge and retribution.

A Knights Tale by Edward John  Crockett - novel of Sir John de Hawkwood

Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered by Dianne Hales - biography of Lisa Gherardini, Leonardo's muse.

The Riddle & The Knight: In Search of Sir John  Mandeville, the World's Greatest Traveller by Giles Milton - journey to rehabilitate this 14th century traveller.

June & October 2016 Additions to the Library

I have been doing a bit of a stock-take in the Library and have discovered that quite a few books have not made it on the stock list. So, after spending an afternoon (or two) reviewing what I have on the shelves, I have discovered I have, on occasion, six occasions to be exact, have duplicated books. Okay, a couple of times it has mean both a hardback and paperback copy of the same book; however, in the other instances it has mean that, because of my own poor record-keeping, I have made multiple purchases. Never mind, one can never have too many books.

So, here are the latest additions:

• Foxe's Book of Martyrs - John Foxe
• Hawkwood - Jack Ludlow
• The Nevills of Middleham - K. L. Clark
• King Rufus - Emma Mason
• Richard, Duke of York - Matthew Lewis
• Joan of Kent - Penny Lawne
• The Mythology of Richard III - John Ashdown-Hill
• The Demon's Brood - Desmond Seward
• God's Wolf - Jeffrey Lee
• The War on Heresy - R. I. Moore
• The French in the Kingdom of Sicily, 1266-1305 - Jean Dunbabin
• John of Brienne - Guy Perry
• The Bigod Earls of Norfolk in the Thirteenth Century - Marc Morris
• The Norman Campaigns in the Balkans, 1081-1108 - Georgios Theotokis
• Lady Macbeth - Susan Fraser King
• The Borders - Alistair Moffat

In addition, I have also added: these ones in "The Witcher" series by Andrzej Sapkowski:

• The Last Wish
• Blood of Elves
• The Time of Contempt
• Baptism of Fire
• The Tower of Swallows
• Sword of Destiny

September Additions - Part 3

And, finally, Part 3 of September's additions to the Library:

Byzantium and the Rise of Russia: A Study of Byzantino-Russian Relations in the Fourteenth Century by John Meyendorff - This book describes the role of Byzantine (predominantly ecclesiastical) diplomacy in the emergence of Moscow as the capital of Russia in the fourteenth century, and the cultural, religious and political ties which connected the Northern periphery of the Byzantine Orthodox 'Commonwealth' with its centre in Constantinople. 

Colonial Ireland, 1169-1369 by Robin Frame - This book examines the processes of conquest and colonization, against the background of economic expansion and seigneurial enterprise apparent elsewhere in Britain and Europe. It also explores the nature and extent of colonial retreat, and the political and cultural adjustments that were evident amid the less favorable conditions of the 14th century.

The Kingdom of the Isles: Scotland's Western Seaboard C.1100-C.1336 by Andrew McDonald - Exploring the history of Scotland's western seaboard during the central Middle Ages, this study discusses three interrelated themes: the existence of the Isles and coastal mainland as a kingdom; the monarchs of the region, from Somerled to his descendant John MacDonald, the first Lord of the Isles; and the complex relations among the Isles, Scotland, Norway, and England. 

Thomas Becket : Warrior, Priest, Rebel, Victim: a 900-year-old Story Retold by John Guy - The story of "Thomas Becket" is the story of an enigma, as well as of one of the most tumultuous periods in English history. Drawing on a vast array of contemporary records, personal letters and first-hand accounts, John Guy has reconstructed a psychologically compelling, stunningly nuanced and utterly convincing account of this most remarkable man, the dramatic times in which he lived and the pivotal role he played in his nation's history.

The Royal Stuarts : A History of the Family That Shaped Britain by Allan Massie - Exploring the family's lineage from the first Stuart king to the last, The Royal Stuarts is a panoramic history of the family that acted as a major player in the Scottish Wars of Independence, the Union of the Crowns, the English Civil War, the Restoration, and more. Drawing on the accounts of historians past and present, novels, and plays, this is the complete story of the Stuart family, documenting their path from the salt marshes of Brittany to the thrones of Scotland and England and eventually to exile. 

The Audacious Crimes of Colonel Blood : The Spy Who Stole the Crown Jewels and Became the King's Secret Agent by Robert Hutchinson - Bestselling historian Robert Hutchinson paints a vivid portrait of a double agent bent on ambiguous political and personal motivation, and provides an extraordinary account of the perils and conspiracies that abounded in Restoration England.