RARA-AVIS: Luc Sante's a Low Life

From: Pengarang@aol.com
Date: 05 Jun 2001


<< Not a recent read but Frewin in London Blues quotes from Luc Sante's LOWLIFE
 and if by any chance anyone out there hasn't come across this history of New
 York's underbelly then seek it out, it's fascinating, sad and sometimes very
 funny. >>

Seeing someone recommend Low Life, I had to write to say that the book is for the most part a reworking (and rip-off) of a much better book published in 1928 by Herbert Asbury: Gangs of New York. Luc Sante owes his career to the fact that books go out of print, and then are largely forgotten, in my opinion. I would also recommend Asbury's other books: The Barbary Coast (SF's underworld), The French Quarter (New Orleans), Gem of the Prairie (Chicago), and Sucker's Progress (History of Gambling in US). Very well-researched, very whimsical, entertaining reads.

Nathaniel Lachenmeyer

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