Was this the most sinful place in American history? New Orleans a century ago, per the able research of Gary Krist, stood notoriously as a bustling den of gambling, racism, lust, and violence. Even righteous causes brought grotesqueness. Anger over public murders fueled lynch mobs. Efforts to pull the city away from wide-open brothel-and-gin-joint rambunctiousness were backed by Jim Crow segregationists.