Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt's Doomed Quest to Clean up Sin-loving New York
by Richard Zacks
- Used
- as new
- Hardcover
- Signed
- first
- Condition
- As New/New
- ISBN 10
- 0385519729
- ISBN 13
- 9780385519724
- Seller
-
Camarillo, California, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Book appears to be untouched/unread. Spine and binding is tight.
Dust jacket is in mint condition.
Signed by the author, Richard Zacks.
When young Theodore Roosevelt was appointed police commissioner of New York City, he had the astounding gall to try to shut down the brothels, gambling joints, and after-hours saloons. This is the story of how TR took on Manhattan vice . . . and vice won.
In the 1890s, New York City was America's financial, manufacturing, and entertainment capital, and also its preferred destination for sin, teeming with forty thousand prostitutes, glittery casinos, and all-night dives. Police captains took hefty bribes to see nothing while reformers writhed in frustration.
In Island of Vice, Richard Zacks paints a vivid portrait of the lewd underbelly of 1890s New York, and of Theodore Roosevelt, the puritanical, cocksure police commissioner resolved to clean it up. Writing with great wit and zest, Zacks explores how young Roosevelt goes head to head with Tammany Hall, takes midnight rambles with muckraker Jacob Riis, and tries to convince two million New Yorkers to enjoy wholesome family fun. When Roosevelt's crackdown succeeds too well, even his supporters turn on him, and TR discovers that New York loves its sin more than its salvation.
With cameos by Stephen Crane, Mark Twain, and a horde of very angry cops, Island of Vice is an unforgettable snapshot of turn-of-the-century New York in all its seedy glory and a brilliant miniature of one of America's most colorful presidents.
Synopsis
Richard Zacks got his book-writing start specializing in lewd and offbeat history. His An Underground Education and History Laid Bare are classics of their kind. More recently, he is the author of The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd , chosen by Time in 2002 as one of the five best nonfiction books of the year; and The Pirate Coast (2005). His writing has appeared in The New York Times , Atlantic Monthly , Time , Life , Harper’s , Sports Illustrated , Village Voice , and other publications. He writes in a small office overlooking Union Square in New York City.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Casa Pacifica (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 136
- Title
- Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt's Doomed Quest to Clean up Sin-loving New York
- Author
- Richard Zacks
- Format/Binding
- As New
- Book Condition
- New As New
- Jacket Condition
- New
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN 10
- 0385519729
- ISBN 13
- 9780385519724
- Publisher
- Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
- Place of Publication
- Westminster, Md, U.s.a.
- Date Published
- 2012-02-07
- Pages
- 448
- Bookseller catalogs
- History; Biography; Non Fiction;
Terms of Sale
Casa Pacifica
About the Seller
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Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- Miniature
- A book that is less then 3 inches in width and ...
- Spine
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- First Edition
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