Review by jeannemixon - Five Points: The 19th Century New York City Neighborhood That Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections, And Became The World's Most Notorious Slum

A review by jeannemixon
Five Points: The 19th Century New York City Neighborhood That Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections, And Became The World's Most Notorious Slum by Tyler Anbinder

5.0

An amazing book -- a detailed sociological, historical, political examination of what is today Little Italy and Chinatown in New York. I was drawn to the book after seeing Gangs of New York, of course, but while Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day Lewis are based on real types, the story itself of course was not true. Anbinder digs deeply, through statistical data and contemporary newspaper accounts, into the cultural life of this section of Manhattan. Of course Jacob Riis is frequently referenced. In the last chapter, he briefly chronicles the life of the area past what he calls the end of the "five points" proper and addresses what he feels was the cause of so much misery.

A review by jeannemixon Five Points: The 19th Century New York City Neighborhood That Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections, And Became The World's Most Notorious Slum by Tyler Anbinder

A review by jeannemixon
Five Points: The 19th Century New York City Neighborhood That Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections, And Became The World's Most Notorious Slum by Tyler Anbinder