Madam

This biography follows Pearl "Polly" Adler, who ran a string of Manhattan brothels during the Roaring Twenties. Her establishments drew more than paying customers. They became meeting places where artists and celebrities rubbed shoulders with society figures and members of the underworld, and the guests were there to enjoy themselves. Adler lived from 1900 to 1962.

Adler was a Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe, and her rise from poverty to prominence reads like a classic American success story. Her early years resemble a novel by Henry Roth, while her later career has the glitter of a tale by F. Scott Fitzgerald. She once announced that she meant to be the best madam in America, and she came close to doing exactly that. Her clients, court battles and headlines are woven into the account.

Author Debby Applegate, a Pulitzer Prize winner for The Most Famous Man in America, uses Adler's life as a lens on the decade itself. The book examines how the 1920s could be both corrupt and glamorous, and how the mingling of high and low society helped shape American culture.