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Low
Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York, by
Luc Sante.
Sante's book about lower Manhattan
in the late 19th and early 20th centuries is a beloved account
of the seedy side of the city. After setting up the urban
landscape of those less fortunate, the author recounts stories
of theater, booze, drugs, gambling, prostitution, gangs,
crooked cops and politicians, orphans, homeless, those who
were born in the gutter and stayed in the gutter. The geographical
center of the book is the Bowery,
a 1.5-mile stretch that runs from present-day Chinatown
to the East Village, still home to the flophouses and saloons
that began in the time of this book (though the impending
destruction of McGurk's Suicide Hall is an unfortunate
erasure of the city's history). Physically, the Bowery parallels
Broadway and in Sante's mind this parallel was more than
that, as the same vices gave rise to each thoroughfare,
the former for the lower classes and the latter for the
upper crusts of society.
Through extensive and diverse research,
Sante paints a vivid picture of New York at a time that
seems so remote but still exists today in the polarization
of classes and the its seediness. It's a history that is
many times glossed over in favor of stories of money and
power. But to truly understand the city, one must know of
its lows as well as its highs, and for the lows, Sante's
unique book is the best yet.
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