The Gangs of New York
The Gangs of New York series
All Around the Town(1934) →
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The Gangs of New York has long been hand-passed among its cult readership. It is a tour through a now unrecognizable city of abysmal poverty and habitual violence cobbled, as Luc Sante has written, "from legend, memory, police records, the self-aggrandizements of aging crooks, popular journalism, and solid historical research." Asbury presents the definitive work on this subject, an illumination of the gangs of old New York that ultimately gave rise to the modern Mafia and its depiction in films like The Godfather. "A universal history of infamy [that] contains all the confusion and cruelty of the barbarian cosmologies...."—Jorge Luis Borges "The tale is one of blood, excitement and debauchery."—The New York Times Book Review "The Gangs of New York is one of the essential works of the city...."—Luc Sante, The New York Review of Books
Liked The Gangs of New York? Here’s where I’d start.
These suit anyone who liked The Gangs of New York. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.
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Five Points: The Nineteenth-Century New York City Neighborhood That Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections and Became the World's Most Notorious Slum Shares nonfiction, history, New York -
Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York Shares nonfiction, history, New York -
A Pickpocket's Tale: The Underworld of Nineteenth-Century New York Shares nonfiction, history, true crime -
Twilight at the World of Tomorrow : Genius, Madness, Murder, and the 1939 World's Fair on the Brink of War Shares nonfiction, history, true crime
“People who read The Gangs of New York tend to reach for these next.”
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The Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth-Century New York
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Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898
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The Epic of New York City: A Narrative History
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The Last Duel: A True Story of Crime, Scandal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval France
“If you want more of the same (history about american history), start with these.”
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City of Dreams: The 400-Year Epic History of Immigrant New York
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Duel with the Devil: The True Story of How Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr Teamed Up to Take on America's First Sensational Murder Mystery
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City of Eros: New York City, Prostitution, and the Commercialization of Sex, 1790-1920
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Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt's Doomed Quest to Clean up Sin-loving New York
“If it was the true crime that hooked you, try one of these.”
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Heaven's Ditch: God, Gold, and Murder on the Erie Canal
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Tong Wars: The Untold Story of Vice, Money, and Murder in New York's Chinatown
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The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America
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Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City
