Mike Dash is a master of atmospheric and entertaining historical narrative. In Satan's Circus he vividly opens up the world of twentieth-century New York, telling the gripping story of police officer Charley Becker's rise and fall and of the sensational murder trials that led to his gruesome death in the electric chair. With a cast of colourful characters, from Big Tim Sullivan, the election-rigging vice lord, to future President Theodore Roosevelt and beloved gangster Jack Zelig, Satan's Circus brings to life an almost forgotten Gotham - a raucous, gaudy and utterly corrupt city.
Publisher: Granta Books
ISBN: 9781847080646
Number of pages: 464
Weight: 335 g
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 30 mm
Book of the week ... With an eye for crime-world factoids and period detail, Dash introduces us to prostitutes and underbelly dwellers with monikers like "Kid Twist" ... [P]eople looking for a walk on the grimy side of prewar New York are in for a treat - Time Out New York
If the story that Mike Dash tells in Satan's Circus sometimes seems like a chapter from Gangs of New York, that's because it is ... This is a true-crime thriller - but it is also a portrait of the end of an era - The Telegraph
Satan's Circus is a thrilling, atmospheric story peopled with outlandish characters, but it also conveys a profound understanding of how New York's criminals, policemen and politicians conspired on a systematic basis - Sunday Express
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