“Island of Vice”
Play
Prev
Next
A rollicking narrative history of Theodore Roosevelt’s embattled tenure as police commissioner of corrupt, pleasure-loving New York City in the 1890s, and his doomed defiant 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 forty thousand prostitutes, glittery 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, best-selling 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.
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 bar room drinking on Sundays, and tried to convince two million New Yorkers to enjoy wholesome family fun.
In the 1890s, New York City was America’s financial, manufacturing and entertainment capital, and also its preferred destination for sin, teeming with forty thousand prostitutes, glittery 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, best-selling 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.
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 bar room drinking on Sundays, and tried to convince two million New Yorkers to enjoy wholesome family fun.