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Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York
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Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York Paperback - 2003

by Lucy Sante

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From the publisher

"A cacophonous poem of democracy and greed, like the streets of New York themselves."
―John Vernon, Los Angeles Times Book Review


Lucy Sante's Low Life is a portrait of America's greatest city, the riotous and anarchic breeding ground of modernity.

This is not the familiar saga of mansions, avenues, and robber barons, but the messy, turbulent, often murderous story of the city's slums; the teeming streets--scene of innumerable cons and crimes whose cramped and overcrowded housing is still a prominent feature of the cityscape.

Low Life voyages through Manhattan from four different directions. Part One examines the actual topography of Manhattan from 1840 to 1919; Part Two, the era's opportunities for vice and entertainment--theaters and saloons, opium and cocaine dens, gambling and prostitution; Part Three investigates the forces of law and order which did and didn't work to contain the illegalities; Part Four counterposes the city's tides of revolt and idealism against the city as it actually was.

Low Life provides an arresting and entertaining view of what New York was actually like in its salad days. But it's more than simply a book about New York. It's one of the most provocative books about urban life ever written--an evocation of the mythology of the quintessential modern metropolis, which has much to say not only about New York's past but about the present and future of all cities.

First line

LONG, NARROW MANHATTAN ISLAND SITS IN THE BAY, AMONG OTHER ISLANDS, OUTCROPPINGS, FLATLANDS, LIKE A SILHOUETTE OF A RIGHT whale navigating a rocky passage; on the area map, among blank-faced formations all like itself colored yellow for density of population, it lies like a smelt in a pan.

Details

  • Title Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York
  • Author Lucy Sante
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition 1ST
  • Pages 496
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York
  • Publication date 2003-11-24
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Illustrated, Index, Maps, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780374528997 / 0374528993
  • Weight 1.15 lbs (0.52 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.3 in (20.83 x 13.72 x 3.30 cm)
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 20th Century
    • Cultural Region: Mid-Atlantic
    • Cultural Region: Northeast U.S.
    • Demographic Orientation: Urban
    • Geographic Orientation: New York
    • Locality: New York, N.Y.
  • Category History - U.S.
  • Library of Congress subjects New York (N.Y.) - History, New York (N.Y.) - Social conditions
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 90025790
  • Dewey Decimal Code 974.710

Media reviews

Citations

  • Newsweek, 01/28/2008, Page 13

About the author

Lucy Sante was born in Verviers, Belgium. Her books include Low Life, The Other Paris, Evidence, The Factory of Facts, and Kill All Your Darlings. She is the recipient of a Whiting Writers' Award, an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Grammy (for album notes), an Infinity Award for Writing from the International Center of Photography, and Guggenheim and Cullman fellowships. Sante has contributed to The New York Review of Books since 1981, and has written for many other magazines. She is the visiting professor of writing and the history of photography at Bard College and lives in Ulster County, New York.
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