Memphis in the Jazz Age

The Jazz Age was a boom time in the Bluff City. Murder was rampant, and politics were rough-and-tumble. First, Mayor Rowlett Paine and Boss E.H. Crump joined forces to fight the local Ku Klux Klan (and nearly lost). Then they turned on each other, and the political battle ensued. Other colorful characters weaving in and out of the story include Black political leader Bob Church, millionaire Clarence Saunders, Governor Austin Peay, evangelist Billy Sunday and even William Jennings Bryan. The city went on a building spree and a bootleg booze binge even as cotton prices plummeted. The Great Flood of 1927 added more strife with the addition of local refugees. Author Robert Lanier details these fascinating stories and more.

Author: Robert a. Lanier
Publisher: History Press
Published: 09/27/2021
Pages: 160
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.40d
ISBN: 9781467148702

About the Author
Lanier, Robert a.: - Robert A. Lanier is a native Memphian and a retired judge. He did graduate studies in history and has published numerous legal and historical articles and books, his proudest work being a history of the little-known pre-World War I creation of the kingdom of Albania, which postponed the world war for a year. Although he made his career among what he calls the teeming multitudes of rogues, idlers and wastrels in the legal profession, he was always a frustrated amateur historian. He served two terms on the Tennessee Historical Commission and cofounded Memphis Heritage, the local historical preservation organization. A lifelong animal lover, he is a past president of the Memphis Humane Society. An ardent Anglophile, he is also a cofounder of the Dickens-inspired Pickwick Club & Gastronomic Society and permanent Corresponding Carbuncle of the local Sherlock Holmes Giant Rats of Sumatra scion society.