The Gangs of New York, Herbert Asbury
The Gangs of New York, Herbert Asbury
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The Gangs of New York
An Informal History of the New York Underworld

Author: Herbert Asbury

Narrator: Peter Lerman

Unabridged: 12 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Peter Lerman

Published: 11/14/2023

Synopsis

This is the 1927 book that years later inspired the movie of the same name. It is a book about criminal violence, corrupt politics and police, and illicit sex. The City of New York, from the late colonial period up to the early twentieth century, was a bustling hub of commerce, industry, and immigration. For many the city was the gateway to a new life in America, and for many others it was a place to steal a buck from their fellow New Yorkers and visitors to the city with thievery, fraud, and vice—in neighborhoods such as the Five Points, the Bowery, Hells Kitchen, and the Water Front. These are the stories of the infamous criminals of the era—the many vicious gangs and their “specialties.” At many times in the city’s history the notoriously corrupt police force was just another gang. The crooked political machines, including the infamous Tammany Hall, cast a blind eye towards all sorts of gambling dens, dance halls, houses of ill repute, sellers of illegal liquor and drugs, pickpockets, brawlers, murderers, lewd performances, and more. No one was safe, and it took until the twentieth century for the City of New York to become a place where rampant criminality was (somewhat) under control.

About Herbert Asbury

Herbert Asbury (1891–1963) was an American journalist and writer best known for his books detailing crime during the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, such as The Gangs of New York (later adapted for film as Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York in 2002), Gem of the Prairie: An Informal History of the Chicago Underworld, The Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld, and Sucker’s Progress: An Informal History of Gambling in America. 

About Peter Lerman

Peter Lerman is originally from New York City where, coincidentally, these stories are set. Peter has narrated over 150 audiobooks and has won an AudioFile Magazine Earphones Award in 2020 for one of them. His specialty is nonfiction—biography, history, government and politics, business, science, medicine and technology. In 2023 Peter recorded the first audiobook production of Upton Sinclair’s Boston: the Documentary Novel of Sacco and Vanzetti.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Mark on January 27, 2009

Like its sister book Gangs of Chicago, Gangs of New York is an anecdotal history of the New York underworld in the 19th century from its nascence in the 1820's and 30's up until the the end of Tammany Hall and the corruption that sustained gang life as a New York institution. It's a history populate......more

Goodreads review by C.S. on March 09, 2022

Asbury’s Gangs of New York is a very long-winded, dry, and tedious account of my favorite period in New York City history. It’s absolutely not a title I would suggest anyone read for mere pleasure—as I habitually read this subject matter for fun and Asbury’s book was a slog to get through. I would h......more

Goodreads review by Julie on December 16, 2016

Not a true history but rather a historical artifact. A look at the 1830s-1900 through the eyes of the 1920s. Dark, fascinating, appalling. I wish we could get closer to these people of mid-19thC NYC than a 1920s-based narrator. It was another world, one that was two or three generations more remote......more

Goodreads review by Pinkerton on November 15, 2017

Questo volume un’impostazione vera e propria non ce l’ha, i capitoli che trattano i vari argomenti sono stati composti piuttosto alla rinfusa, e anzi più di una volta alcuni paragrafi sarebbero stati maggiormente funzionali collocati in posti diversi. Sì, seguono una certa linea temporale, ma vengon......more

Goodreads review by Joseph on January 02, 2011

The Gangs of New York by Herbert Asbury, written in 1928, is a great read for those who love to read stories about crime and criminals that took place in New York City, dating back to the early 1800's. The book starts with the chapter entitled “The Cradle of the Gangs,” which was the Five Points A......more

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