Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt's Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York

Zacks, Richard

ISBN 10: 0767926196 / ISBN 13: 9780767926195

Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2012

Item in good condition. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00087482573

Synopsis:

In the 1890s, young cocksure Theodore Roosevelt, years before the White House, was appointed police commissioner of corrupt, pleasure-loving New York, then teeming with 40,000 prostitutes, illegal casinos and all-night dance halls. The Harvard-educated Roosevelt, with a reformer's zeal, tried to wipe out the city's vice and corruption. He went head-to-head with Tammany Hall, took midnight rambles looking for derelict cops, banned barroom drinking on Sundays and tried to convince 2 million New Yorkers to enjoy wholesome family fun.

The city rebelled big time; cartoonists lampooned him on the front page; his own political party abandoned him but Roosevelt never backed down. Island of Vice delivers a rollicking narrative history of Roosevelt's embattled tenure, pitting the seedy against the saintly, and the city against its would-be savior.

About the Author:

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.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt's Quest ...
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication Date: 2012
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: Good