The Gangs of New York (Summarized Edition)
Mature

The Gangs of New York (Summarized Edition)

Enriched edition. An informal history of 19th‑century New York City's underworld: Bowery saloons, violent gangs, Tammany Hall, and corrupt politicsBy Herbert Asbury
Listen with 1,000+ voices
Length3h 7m

About this audiobook

The Gangs of New York charts nineteenth‑century Manhattan's underworld, from Five Points to the Bowery, profiling the Dead Rabbits, Plug Uglies, river pirates, and ward heelers in the orbit of Tammany Hall. Episodic and vivid, it braids court reports and newspaper lore into a picaresque history that peaks with the 1863 Draft Riots. Asbury's tabloid‑tinted yet controlled prose situates the book between dime‑novel swagger and emerging social history. Missouri‑born and long a New York reporter, Herbert Asbury mined police reminiscences, broadsides, and morgue files, privileging atmosphere over footnotes. Writing amid Jazz Age nostalgia for a rougher city, he sought to preserve the folklore of crime and politics before it vanished. His wider portraits of vice districts nationwide confirm a preoccupation with the junction of poverty, spectacle, and power. Recommend it to readers of urban history and true crime who relish narrative drive informed by research. Best read alongside modern scholarship for verification, the book remains unsurpassed for texture, incident, and civic anatomy. Students of American politics, social history, or even Scorsese's film adaptation will find Asbury's panorama unsettling, propulsive, and unexpectedly instructive. Quickie Classics summarizes timeless works with precision, preserving the author's voice and keeping the prose clear, fast, and readable—distilled, never diluted. Enriched Edition extras: Introduction · Synopsis · Historical Context · Brief Analysis · 4 Reflection Q&As · Editorial Footnotes.

Audiobook details

GenreHistory
Length3 hrs 7 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateJan 10, 2026
LanguageEnglish

Table of contents

1Introduction
5The Gangs of New York
2Introduction
6Analysis
3Synopsis
7Reflection
4Historical Context

You may also like

The History of Trade Unionism (Revised edition, extended to 1920)
The History of Trade Unionism (Revised edition, extended to 1920)Beatrice Webb, Sidney Webb34h 31m$2 · $0.00
The War on Guns
The War on GunsJohn R. Lott Jr.5h 7m$20
The Rise of Industry
The Rise of IndustryChristopher Collier, James Lincoln Collier2h 12m$15
The Great Riots of New York, 1712 to 1873
The Great Riots of New York, 1712 to 1873Joel Tyler Headley7h 53m$2 · $0.00
The Third Coast
The Third CoastThomas Dyja17h 45m$23
Blood Diamonds
Blood DiamondsGreg Campbell7h 3m$17 · $0.00
The Withdrawal
The WithdrawalNoam Chomsky, Vijay Prashad4h 40m$15
Narrative of the Fenian invasion of Canada
Narrative of the Fenian invasion of CanadaAlexander Somerville5h 56m$1 · $0.00
The United States Lacks Comprehensive Plan to Destroy the Terrorist Threat
The United States Lacks Comprehensive Plan to Destroy the Terrorist ThreatThe U.S. Government Accountability Office49m$2 · $0.00
The Kosher Capones
The Kosher CaponesJoe Kraus7h 7m$17
Whatever It Takes
Whatever It TakesCongressman J. D. Hayworth, Joseph J. Eule6h 26m$14
Dangerous Rhythms
Dangerous RhythmsT. J. English15h 9m$33 · $0.00
The Life and Work of Jefferson Davis
The Life and Work of Jefferson DavisJefferson Davis, Frank H. Alfriend104h 53m$2 · $0.00
America's Deadliest Election
America's Deadliest ElectionDana Bash10h 57m$28 · $0.00
A history of the administration of the Royal Navy and of merchant shipping in relation to the Navy
A history of the administration of the Royal Navy and of merchant shipping in relation to the NavyM. Oppenheim22h 21m$2 · $0.00
An Humble Address and Earnest Appeal to Those Respectable Personages in Great-Britain and Ireland
An Humble Address and Earnest Appeal to Those Respectable Personages in Great-Britain and IrelandJosiah Tucker2h 22m$1 · $0.00
The Great Boer War
The Great Boer WarArthur Conan Doyle24h 14m$2.30
Chicago and its cess-pools of infamy
Chicago and its cess-pools of infamySamuel Paynter Wilson4h 14m$2 · $0.00
Improvised Munitions Handbook
Improvised Munitions HandbookU.S. Department of Defense4h 38m$2 · $0.00
The Republic of Ragusa: An Episode of the Turkish Conquest
The Republic of Ragusa: An Episode of the Turkish ConquestLuigi Villari7h 9m$1 · $0.00