The Gangs Of New York: An Informal History Of the Underworld [Paperback]

Gangs like The Dead Rabbits, The Plug Uglies, The Gophers, The Daybreak Boys and The Bowery Bois ruling vast sweeps of New York turf like The Five Points, Hell's Kitchen and Satan's Circus...names to conjure with. Add into this setting a cast of characters such as Hell-Cat Maggie, Kid Twist, Gyp the Blood and the Paul Bunyonesque character of Mose the Bowery Boi, who even then was known to be a Tall Tale and not a real person, and you have the recipe for some interesting history.

However, the book is not all shock-value exploitation. While written with an eye for excitement, these are real stories of real people, complete with photographs of several prominent gangsters and magazine artwork from the time illustrating the manuscript. It tells you something of the creating of a city, and how structures are put into place and wildness is tamed. I was surprised to find out that The New York Times is older than the New York Police Department. A newspaper was a greater priority than either a police department or a fire department.

Anyone expecting an adaptation of the film, however, will be disappointed. Scorsese pulled characters from history and jumbled them altogether, regardless of the years separating their lives. It would be like a Western featuring Jessie James, Billie the Kid, Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill Hitchcock, Bat Masterson and several others who were not alive at the same time. Also, this is a history book, so there is no story as such. Just the passage of time.

The draft riot was of specific interest to me as someone who's researched and written about protest (violent and non-violent), political events, the military, etc. Unfortunately, it's quite obvious that Asbury wasn't interested in doing a history or sociology textbook when he put this together more 70 years ago. For example, the police are referred to as "heroic" and "valiant" while the rioters are depicted as monsters and animals. None of this helps explain why these events occurred. Instead, Asbury takes sides - which severely limits the book's worth if you're wanting to learn more about this forgotten piece of US history. It's certainly not a serious study of what caused the riot and the various brutalities committed by _all sides_. It's hard to believe that this book is the source material for the movie.

If you're seriously wanting to learn about the gangs, riots and turmoil in NYC during this era - the true story by behind the movie - then you'll want to look elsewhere. If you're interested in seeing some of the propaganda that was created regarding these events, some of the yellow journalism and tabloid style writing that existed in the 1920s and 30s when this text was written, then you might get something out of this book. On that merit alone - as flawed journalism - perhaps this book is worth a read.