About this title: First published in 1927, this classic has long had a cult following because of its keenly observed and gritty rendering of old New York, and of the habitues of neighborhoods such as the Five Points, the Lower East Side, and the waterfront. Asbury writes of gangs which predated the rise of the mafia--gangs with colorful names such as the Bowery ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Basic Books
Date Published: 2001
ISBN-13:9781560252757ISBN:1560252758
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Very light edge and corner wear. No marks. Tight, square book. Piece of label probably covering name inside. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 384 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. Originally 1927 copyright. Lots of illustrations. read more
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. spine somewhat warped but spine intact and very clean. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 384 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Very Good. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
"Red Onions, Plug Uglies, The Battle Row Ladies Social and Athletic Club, Pearl Buttons, Little Doggies - these are just some of the stupidly named gangs that rampaged through New York during the nineteenth century. Gangsters of this period fare no better with names like Goo Goo Knox, Stumpy Malarkey, Honey Stewart, Kid Twist. I wondered whether this propensity for daft nicknames was a deliberate ploy to cheer them through the grinding poverty and appalling social conditions that they lived in.
It's hard to know how much of this book is true. Both the criminals and cops are portrayed as legends of mythic proportions which makes the book feel less realistic and reliable. Rather than being real people they feel more like participants in a grotesque horror, like a folk tale or scare story you would tell on Halloween.
New York is the real star here. The grim history of the city is both shocking and incredible. Vice, corruption and every type of imaginable crime seethe from the city streets. New York itself seems to live and breathe in this book more than any person in it. It's definitely its strong point and I found myself wanting to learn more about the shady goings on that helped shape this place.
This book also has a rather cynical sense of humour. It just crops up from time to time when Asbury says things in an entirely complimentary fashion like "As brave a thug as ever shot an enemy in the back." I think this is a nice counterpoint to the eye gouging, head stomping and shocking political complicity in gang warfare that litter every page."
"Scorcese's movie based on this book is fun and engaging. This book can be, at times, but really, reading it is similar to reading the "begat" parts of the Old Testament. Asbury bombards you with names and dates and places in the city that haven't existed for 100 years. The book includes a few photos, which are great, but the references come so fast and furiously, it's impossible to keep up even with the limited visual aids.
The movie is an adaptation that takes parts of several of the stories from the book and Hollywoods it all up together. But if you're at all interested in the history of New York, this is a great read."
"Just because this was for me doesn't mean it was for everyone. I just love reading about the vice and crime that characterizes the history of New York especially in the time period discussed in this non-fiction book. Starting at about 1829 and ending when the book was written in 1928, it chronicles the worst parts of town and its inhabitants; tough tough men women and children who did unspeakable things to survive. They were sometimes colorful and sometimes pathetic and their way of life is just unimaginable to me.
At a time when a square mile of London's east end, the neighborhood so wrenchingly portrayed in the novels of Charles Dickens, contained 175,000 inhabitants, Now York's fourth ward had a population density of 290,000 per square mile in immigrant neighborhoods.
Fun to see how mixed up the gangs were with the polititians and labor unions. Those respectable institutions couldn't get it done without these guys!
I love how this was written "so long ago" that truthfulness seems no more important than legend and folklore. I love (and am sad) that many of the place names don't exist anymore. It is written in a voice that itself reminds the reader of a very different system of political correctness. A little tedious toward the end but by that time I was ready for stories about the mob!"
"Very senstational, journalist account of gangs in New York from mid 19th century until just after WWI. Certainly lends support to the idea that gangsterism is an immigrant phenonomen, with the Irish establishing the tradition, and it then being passed to various German, Jewish, Italiam, Chinese, and other tribes. But then again, New York is an immigrant phenonomen, so why wouldn't its gangs be?
Best chapter deals with the draft riots during the Civil War. The whole of Manhatten seems to have been gripped by an extensive insurrection, with blacks suffering dreadfully at the hands of the rioters.
As a social history this is lousy. As an example of the way America mythologises itself, it is a significant work. And Scorses still had to make it into a film!"
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