In 1927, Asbury published an article in The American Mercury, titled "The Old-Time Gangs of New York", which was ultimately incorporated into the book published the following year.[1][2] Drawing on the muckraking trend of the era, where journalists—like Asbury himself—sought to take an honest look at the inner-cityslums that were ravaged by abysmal poverty and habitual violence, identify their pathogeneses and propose sustainable solutions to the local authorities, the author purportedly wrote based on "legend, memory, police records, the self-aggrandizements of aging crooks, popular journalism, and solid historical research", to present the definitive work on this subject; an illuminating account of the gangs of old New York that ultimately gave rise to the Mafia as we know it today, from films like The Godfather.[3]
The book contains detailed accounts of the New York City Draft Riots of 1863. It also elaborates on numerous other criminal influences of the time, including river pirates and the corrupt political establishment, such as Tammany Hall.
Similar Works
Over the course of his career, Asbury made multiple attempts to follow up on the success of The Gangs of New York. Within the 1930s, he published the non-fiction books, The Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld (1933), which explores the seedy underbelly of the populous port city, as it gradually started to form after the 1848 California gold rush, The French Quarter: An Informal History of the New Orleans Underworld (1936), about the town with the most notorious red-light district in the country, and Gem of the Prairie: An Informal History of the Chicago Underworld (1940), which outlines the rise of the Chicago Outfit and other local Mafia divisions. Asbury also penned a direct sequel to The Gangs of New York, All Around the Town: Murder, Scandal, Riot and Mayhem in Old New York (1934), and Sucker's Progress: An Informal History of Gambling in America (1938), a complete look at old-time gamesmanship in America.
Influence
Over the years, Asbury's book has gained a massive cult following, and various authors continue to pay tribute to it, even to this day. As U.S. author, historian and journalist Russell Shorto writes in his foreword to the 2008 edition of the book for Vintage, "[Asbury's] book became an underground classic because it catalogued the underbelly of New York, which to many is the real New York. His subject is the beast inside every city, and inside every one of us, maybe."[4]
Asbury's book's universal appeal becomes apparent when the influence he exerted over non-English speaking authors is examined. Argentinian master of the short-story, Jorge Luis Borges, famously was a great fan of The Gangs of New York, and his 1935 collection, A Universal History of Infamy (original Spanish title: Historia universal de la infamia) is his homage to it.[5]Monk Eastman of the Jewish-AmericanEastman Gang, and New York-born legendary Wild Westoutlaw and gunfighterBilly the Kid make an appearance in both Asbury's and Borges's books. A Universal History is also historically significant, as Puerto Rican author Angel Flores used the term "magical realism" for the first time to describe it, thus marking the birth of the movement.
Luc Sante's 1991 treatise, Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York, discusses many anecdotes from the 19th century New York City street life made popular through Asbury's book, and he either debunks or confirms them, while simultaneously expanding upon them with more anecdotes he has discovered through his research.[6]
Futurist writer and author of the architectureblogBLDGBLOG Geoff Manaugh references The Gangs of New York in his book A Burglar's Guide to the City (2016), as he discusses 19th and early 20th century thieves and con men, such as George Leonidas Leslie, to whom Asbury dedicates entire chapters. Manaugh demonstrates how architects can learn valuable things about buildings (and their structural flaws) from professional burglars.[7]
Adaptation
The book was loosely adapted into the epichistorical drama film Gangs of New York (2002) by director Martin Scorsese. A television adaptation is in the works with Scorsese set to return as executive producer and director of the first two episodes. Brett C. Leonard is writing the series, which will be a new take with characters not included in the film.[8]
↑ Asbury, Herbert (August 2008). The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld. New York: Vintage Books. p.XV. ISBN0307388980.
↑ Balderston, Daniel (January 1, 2003). "Borges and The Gangs of New York". Variaciones Borges 16. Pennsylvania: The University of Pittsburgh. p.27-33.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
