9780307876874
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Island of Vice audiobook

  • By: Richard Zacks
  • Narrator: Joe Ochman
  • Category: 19th Century, History, United States
  • Length: 15 hours 23 minutes
  • Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
  • Publish date: January 01, 2012
  • Language: English
  • (1930 ratings)
(1930 ratings)
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Island of Vice Audiobook Summary

A ROLLICKING NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT’S EMBATTLED TENURE AS POLICE COMMISSIONER OF CORRUPT, PLEASURE-LOVING NEW YORK CITY IN THE 1880s, AND HIS DOOMED MISSION TO WIPE OUT VICE

In the 1890s, New York City was America’s financial, manufacturing, and entertainment capital, and also its preferred destination for sin, teeming with 40,000 prostitutes, glittering casinos, and all-night dives packed onto the island’s two dozen square miles. Police captains took hefty bribes to see nothing while reformers writhed in frustration.
     In Island of Vice, bestselling author Richard Zacks paints a vivid picture of the lewd underbelly of 1890s New York, and of Theodore Roosevelt, the cocksure crusading police commissioner who resolved to clean up the bustling metropolis, where the silk top hats of Wall Street bobbed past teenage prostitutes trawling Broadway.
     Writing with great wit and zest, Zacks explores how Roosevelt went head-to-head with corrupt Tammany Hall, took midnight rambles with muckraker Jacob Riis, banned barroom drinking on Sundays, and tried to convince 2 million New Yorkers to enjoy wholesome family fun. In doing so, Teddy made a ruthless enemy of police captain “Big Bill” Devery, who grew up in the Irish slums and never tired of fighting “tin soldier” reformers. Roosevelt saw his mission as a battle of good versus evil; Devery saw prudery standing in the way of fun and profit.
     When righteous Roosevelt’s vice crackdown started to succeed all too well, many of his own supporters began to turn on him. Cynical newspapermen mocked his quixotic quest, his own political party abandoned him, and Roosevelt discovered that New York loves its sin more than its salvation.
     Zacks’s meticulous research and wonderful sense of narrative verve bring this disparate cast of both pious and bawdy New Yorkers to life. With cameos by Stephen Crane, J. P. Morgan, and Joseph Pulitzer, plus a horde of very angry cops, Island of Vice is an unforgettable portrait of turn-of-the-century New York in all its seedy glory, and a brilliant portrayal of the energetic, confident, and zealous Roosevelt, one of America’s most colorful public figures.

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Island of Vice Audiobook Narrator

Joe Ochman is the narrator of Island of Vice audiobook that was written by Richard Zacks

About the Author(s) of Island of Vice

Richard Zacks is the author of Island of Vice

Subjects

The publisher of the Island of Vice is Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group. includes the following subjects: teddy roosevelt biography, american history, biography, us history, biographies, presidents, political science, law, police, government, prison, president, law enforcement, gifts for history buffs, geopolitics, autobiographies, american history books, political philosophy, history, history books, political books, politics, american, autobiography, history gifts, world politics, political science books, history teacher gifts, first ladies, historical books, biographies of famous people, history buff gifts, History, United States, 19th Century, Biography & Autobiography, Presidents & Heads of State, Political Science, Law Enforcement The BISAC Subject Code is 19th Century, History, United States

Additional info

The publisher of the Island of Vice is Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group. The imprint is Random House Audio. It is supplied by Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group. The ISBN-13 is 9780307876874.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

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