Download Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt's Doomed Quest to Clean up Sin-Loving New York AudioBook Free
When young Theodore Roosevelt was appointed law enforcement officials commissioner of New York City, he had the astounding gall to attempt to shut down the brothels, gambling joint parts, and after-hours saloons. This is actually the report of how TR got on Manhattan vice... and vice triumphed in. Within the 1890s, New York City was America's financial, processing, and entertainment capital, and also its preferred destination for sin, teeming with forty thousand prostitutes, glittery casinos, and all-night dives. Authorities captains took significant bribes to see nothing while reformers writhed in frustration. In Island of Vice, Richard Zacks paints a brilliant portrait of the lewd underbelly of 1890s NY, and of Theodore Roosevelt, the puritanical, cocksure law enforcement officials commissioner resolved to clean it up. Writing with great wit and zest, Zacks explores how young Roosevelt runs head to head with Tammany Hall, calls for midnight rambles with muckraker Jacob Riis, and will try to persuade two million New Yorkers to enjoy wholesome family fun. When Roosevelt's crackdown succeeds too well, even his supporters start him, and TR discovers that NY enjoys its sin more than its salvation. With cameos by Stephen Crane, Draw Twain, and a horde of very furious cops, Island of Vice can be an memorable snapshot of turn-of-the-century NY in all its seedy glory and an excellent miniature of one of America's most multi-colored presidents.
