The Wickedest Man in New York (Paperback)
Language: English
Published by Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD, 2026
- Softcover
- New
Seller: CitiRetail, Stevenage, United KingdomCitiRetail
AbeBooks seller since June 29, 2022
Condition: New
£ 60.99
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Paperback. How journalism, religious ambition, and urban life converged to shape one of nineteenth-century New York's most public moral dramas.In The Wickedest Man in New York, Robert E. Cray revisits one of the most arresting episodes in nineteenth-century Manhattan: the brief season when a Water Street dancehall became the unlikely stage for a public religious drama. In 1868, journalist Oliver Dyer published a sensational profile of John Allen, a dancehall proprietor whose establishment was infamous for liquor, music, and the labor of the sex workers who lived there. Dyer's portrait of Allen as "the wickedest man in New York" gripped the city and pulled thousands of curious onlookers toward the Fourth Ward, a waterfront district long associated with poverty, sex work, and the tensions of a changing metropolis.As evangelicals from the Howard Mission entered Allen's worldhoping to reform the neighborhood, cultivate converts, and elevate their own ministryreporters chronicled every turn. Prayer meetings unfolded where sailors once crowded the floor. Critics questioned motives. Supporters heralded moral transformation. New Yorkers asked whether a revival was truly taking place or whether they were witnessing a carefully managed spectacle shaped as much by publicity as by faith. Cray brings this volatile moment into sharp focus, revealing how Protestant evangelicals, urban journalists, and neighborhood residents navigated overlapping ambitions in a city alive with religious competition and cultural display.Through careful attention to Water Street's social landscapeincluding its Irish Catholic families, its laboring men, and the women whose lives were most exposed to public scrutinyCray shows how personalities like Allen and Dyer became symbols of broader struggles over morality, reform, and the power of the press. The Wickedest Man in New York illuminates the forces that shaped urban religion in the early Gilded Age, offering a compelling portrait of a city captivated by sin, salvation, and sensational newsmaking. This item is printed on demand. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.…
Seller Inventory # 9781421455105
- Title
- The Wickedest Man in New York (Paperback)
- Author
- Robert E. Cray
- Publisher
- Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD
- Publication year
- 2026
- Condition
- new
- Binding
- Paperback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1421455102
- ISBN 13
- 9781421455105
How journalism, religious ambition, and urban life converged to shape one of nineteenth-century New York's most public moral dramas.
In The Wickedest Man in New York, Robert E. Cray revisits one of the most arresting episodes in nineteenth-century Manhattan: the brief season when a Water Street dancehall became the unlikely stage for a public religious drama. In 1868, journalist Oliver Dyer published a sensational profile of John Allen, a dancehall proprietor whose establishment was infamous for liquor, music, and the labor of the sex workers who lived there. Dyer's portrait of Allen as "the wickedest man in New York" gripped the city and pulled thousands of curious onlookers toward the Fourth Ward, a waterfront district long associated with poverty, sex work, and the tensions of a changing metropolis.
As evangelicals from the Howard Mission entered Allen's world—hoping to reform the neighborhood, cultivate converts, and elevate their own ministry—reporters chronicled every turn. Prayer meetings unfolded where sailors once crowded the floor. Critics questioned motives. Supporters heralded moral transformation. New Yorkers asked whether a revival was truly taking place or whether they were witnessing a carefully managed spectacle shaped as much by publicity as by faith. Cray brings this volatile moment into sharp focus, revealing how Protestant evangelicals, urban journalists, and neighborhood residents navigated overlapping ambitions in a city alive with religious competition and cultural display.
Through careful attention to Water Street's social landscape—including its Irish Catholic families, its laboring men, and the women whose lives were most exposed to public scrutiny—Cray shows how personalities like Allen and Dyer became symbols of broader struggles over morality, reform, and the power of the press. The Wickedest Man in New York illuminates the forces that shaped urban religion in the early Gilded Age, offering a compelling portrait of a city captivated by sin, salvation, and sensational newsmaking.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
CitiRetail
Stevenage, United Kingdom
AbeBooks seller since June 29, 2022
Shipping rates from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
| Item | 7 to 14 business days | 7 to 60 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 37.00 | £ 37.00 |
Payment methods
Store description
Online business
Seller's business information
ABC BOOKS LIMITED
10 John Street
London, United Kingdom WC1N 2EB
Terms of sale
Orders can be returned within 30 days of receipt.
Right of withdrawal
If you are a consumer you can withdraw from the contract in accordance with the following. Consumer means any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession.
Information regarding the right of withdrawal
Statutory right to withdraw
You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.
The withdrawal period will expire after 14 days from the day on which you acquire, or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by you acquires, physical possession of the last good or the last lot or piece.
To exercise the right of withdrawal, electronically fill in and submit a clear statement on our website, under "My Purchases" in "My Account". We will communicate to you an acknowledgement of receipt of such a withdrawal on a durable medium (e.g. by e-mail) without delay.
To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.
Effects of withdrawal
If you withdraw from this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (except for the supplementary costs arising if you chose a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us).
We may make a deduction from the reimbursement for loss in value of any goods supplied, if the loss is the result of unnecessary handling by you.
We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract.
We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.
We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back, or you have supplied evidence of having sent back the goods, whichever is the earliest.
You shall send back the goods or hand them over to CitiRetail, Stevenage, United Kingdom, without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which you communicate your withdrawal from this contract to us. The deadline is met if you send back the goods before the period of 14 days has expired. You will have to bear the direct cost of returning the goods. You are only liable for any diminished value of the goods resulting from the handling other than what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods.
Exceptions to the right of withdrawal
The right of withdrawal does not apply to:
- The delivery of newspapers, journals or magazines with the exception of subscription contracts; and
- The supply of digital content which is not supplied on a tangible medium (e.g. on a CD or DVD) if you accepted when you placed your order that we could start to deliver it, and that you could not withdraw once delivery had started.
Shipping terms
Please note that titles are dispatched from our US, Canadian or Australian warehouses. Delivery times specified in shipping terms. Orders ship within 2 business days. Delivery to your door then takes 7-14 days.