Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt's Doomed Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York [Hardcover]

Richard Zacks (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 13, 2012

When young Theodore Roosevelt was appointed police commissioner of New York City, he had the astounding gall to try to shut down the brothels, gambling joints, and after-hours saloons. This is the story of how TR took on Manhattan vice . . . and vice won.

In the 1890s, New York City was America’s financial, manufacturing, and entertainment capital, and also its preferred destination for sin, teeming with forty thousand prostitutes, glittery casinos, and all-night dives. Police cap­tains took hefty bribes to see nothing while reformers writhed in frustration.

In Island of Vice, Richard Zacks paints a vivid portrait of the lewd underbelly of 1890s New York, and of Theodore Roosevelt, the puritanical, cocksure police commissioner resolved to clean it up. Writing with great wit and zest, Zacks explores how young Roosevelt goes head to head with Tammany Hall, takes midnight rambles with muckraker Jacob Riis, and tries to convince two million New Yorkers to enjoy wholesome family fun. When Roosevelt’s crackdown succeeds too well, even his supporters turn on him, and TR discovers that New York loves its sin more than its salvation.

With cameos by Stephen Crane, Mark Twain, and a horde of very angry cops, Island of Vice is an unforgettable snap­shot of turn-of-the-century New York in all its seedy glory and a brilliant miniature of one of America’s most colorful presidents.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Amazon Best Books of the Month, March 2012: Those living in New York City today may be surprised (or not!) to read about the state of their city in the 1890’s; overrun with prostitution, gambling, boot liquor and Tammany Hall, NYC was known as the “Island of Vice.” Enter the ever-ambitious Theodore Roosevelt, years before he became president, who stepped-in as the NYC Police Commissioner and made it his mission to clean up the city. Richard Zacks’ enthusiastic account of this period is a fun read—an adjective rarely used to describe history books. It would be difficult to invent a cast of characters as exuberant and flawed as those involved here, and Zacks brings them all to life with ease. He clearly enjoys the subject, elevating this well-researched book into something memorable. --Caley Anderson

A Look Inside Island of Vice

Thompson Street Bar Photo: Jacob Riis called this Thompson Street joint “a downtown morgue.” (Jacob Riis. Museum of City of New York [90.13.4.165])	The Bowery Photo: The Bowery, under the shadow of the elevated train tracks, bustled at night with colored lights and cane-swirling barkers in places such as the Lyceum Concert Garden. The joint then featured a minstrel show and cake walk. (The New Metropolis by E. Idell Zeisloft (1899) p. 518.)	TR at desk Photo: Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), sworn in as police commissioner on May 6, 1895, soon decided to try to enforce every law on the books and every rule for police conduct. “New York has never been so shocked and surprised in all its two hundred and fifty years of existence,” commented one observer. (Theodore Roosevelt Collection, Harvard College Library (560.22-001))

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Review

Praise for ISLAND OF VICE:

"Excellent...A fish-out-of-water comedy, in that it tells the story of what happens when one of the virtuous clubmen--a square, incorruptible, 'law-and-order Republican'--is placed in charge of the New York Police Department." 
--The Wall Street Journal

"A fascinating narrative history of Theodore Roosevelt's doomed struggle to put a lid on crime in New York during his tenure as Police Commissioner starting in 1895...One of the achievements of Island of Vice is that Zacks penetrates beneath the bluster into the psychology of this strange, restless man."
--Maureen Corrigan, NPR

"In his delightful and often hilarious ode to Manhattan, Island of Vice, Richard Zacks makes a comparison to another famously wicked metropolis: "As in ancient Rome, the vitality of New York City sometimes seems to come more from the crooks than the do-gooders."
--USA Today

"Richard Zacks, in Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt's Doomed Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York, tells the story of Roosevelt's two-year campaign with gusto and authority and the wry observations of an author who knows how it will all predictably turn out."
-- The New York Times Book Review

“Here is young Teddy Roosevelt as the reformist New York City Police Commissioner  confronted in 1895 with a cabal of  unaccountably wealthy police officials, whole neighborhoods of brothels, and the paws of the Tammany Tiger in everything. A delicious municipal history, impeccably researched, excitingly told.”
--E. L. Doctorow, award-winning author of Ragtime

"In the early 1890s, New York was America's vice capital, with thousands of prostitutes and countless all-night gambling halls. But then, in 1895, Teddy Roosevelt was appointed police commissioner. Richard Zacks paints an engagingly vivid picture of the rise of Roosevelt, the birth of the reform movement, and the creation of 20th century America. Roosevelt comes alive with all of his blustery and belligerent passion, and so does New York City."
--Walter Isaacson, bestselling author of Steve Jobs and Einstein: His Life and Universe
 
“From the opening pages of his rousing new book, Island of Vice, Richard Zacks plunges readers into the filth, debauchery and corruption of 1890s New York. When an ambitious young Theodore Roosevelt strides in to clean up the mess, the story, already brimming with incredible characters and jaw-dropping details, only gets better. “
--Candice Millard, bestselling author of The River of Doubt and Destiny of the Republic
 
“Island of Vice is as thrilling as the low dives and wanton women it describes.  This is the real-life story of an American icon, Teddy Roosevelt, battling vice and as colorful an array of crooked politicians as Tammany ever assembled, in raucous old, gas-light New York.  Zacks does a superb job as both a historian and a storyteller.”
--Kevin Baker, bestselling author of Paradise Alley
 
“An irresistible force – young Theodore Roosevelt, the police commissioner, determined to wipe out vice – meets an immoveable object – the corrupt, pleasure-loving city of New York in the 1890s.  And the result is: a whole lot of fun.  What a marvelous time Richard Zacks must have had researching this story.  The information is fascinating, the amazing tale moves with a headlong pace. I'm sure ISLAND OF VICE will be a best-seller, and it deserves to be.” 
--Edward Rutherfurd, bestselling author of New York: The Novel   
 
“It’s been said that New York City politics were invented to scare young children. True, according to Richard Zacks whose riveting account lays bare the depravity and corruption of the Gilded Age – and the failed crusade of Police Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt to stop it. A must-read for any student of Gotham.” 
--Teresa Carpenter, author of New York Diaries, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing

"A lively and often entertaining portrayal of urban life at the close of the 19th century."
--The Chrstian Science Monitor

"Zacks probes this period of Roosevelt’s life with exhaustive details, drama, and intrigue. The 40 pages of bibliographic notes indicate the five years of research that went into this remarkable re-creation of fin-de-siècle New York. Writing with a prismatic, poetic slant, Zacks unveils a colorful portrait of a volcanic Roosevelt towering over the soul of the city."
--Publishers Weekly

“Set in gas-lit 1890s Manhattan, Zacks’ depiction of virtue versus vice pits Theodore Roosevelt against a gallery of antagonists...[TR’s] fight is a fascinating story that Zacks relays with zest. His pungent vignettes of sinful establishments and the police who ‘protected’ them hang on the main plot of TR’s campaigns to dismiss bad cops and enforce long-dormant alcohol and prostitution laws, which often resulted in proceedings showcasing TR at his most combatively indignant. His research artfully attired in active prose, Zacks writes a winner for TR and NYC buffs.”
--Booklist

"Zacks returns with a sharply focused look at Theodore Roosevelt's brief tenure as a New York City police commissioner...The author takes us inside fin-de-siecle brothels and bars, Tammany Hall and courtrooms, contentious commissioners' meetings and cops' barracks. A nuanced, comprehensive portrait of a unique man and the surrounding period, culture and political system."
--Kirkus Reviews

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st Printing edition (March 13, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385519729
• ISBN-13: 978-0385519724
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.4 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,850 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard Zacks grew up in New York City, wandering to Times Square when it was still evil. His mother sought to refine his manners with white-glove dance lessons at the Pierre Hotel but that effort failed miserably. As a teenager, he gambled on the horses, played blackjack in illegal Manhattan card parlors and bought his first drink at age fifteen at the Plaza Hotel. He also attended elite schools such as Horace Mann ('73), University of Michigan ('79) and Columbia Journalism School ('81). He majored in Classical Greek and studied Arabic, Italian and French.
His whole life he has felt torn between the seedy and the high brow. He is a born contrarian. His books reflect that, with topics ranging from Joan of Arc's virginity tests to a vindication of Captain Kidd, from Edison's electric chair to Mark Twain's erotic writings. .
Zacks spent the decade of the 1980s as a journalist, writing a widely syndicated newspaper column, as well as freelance pieces for the likes of The Atlantic, Sports Illustrated, and he brings a who, what, when, where and an occasional why to his writing of historical narrative. The N.Y. Times, commenting on his first book, "History Laid Bare", stated that Zacks "specializes in the raunchy and perverse." That was two decades ago; he has perhaps evolved since then. His second book, "An Underground Education" became a cult hit; his third book "Pirate Hunter" has sold more than 175,000 copies and TIME magazine chose it among the five best non-fiction books of the year. Zacks has also appeared in four documentaries.
Tall, bald, spry, he still plays full court basketball at age fifty-six, and does his writing in an office, overlooking Union Square Park in Manhattan.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

92 of 97 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An imperfect man January 23, 2012

By Personne TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

The New York of the 1890s was badly in need of reform. The poorest of the poor slept draped over ropes; underpaid police worked 110 hour weeks. Thousands of poor young (and not-so-young) women were forced into prostitution: the only option available to many. The corrupt Democratic machine of Tammany Hall ruled over all, providing essential services at the cost of a vote or a kickback. Graft money went into the hands of the beat cop and worked its way up the chain to captains and superintendents. New Yorkers had finally had enough and demanded reform.

Enter Theodore Roosevelt, the new Commissioner of Police. Along with his fellow board members, Roosevelt put the wheels of reform into motion. Richard Zack's vivid description of this time shows the conflict between men and culture, and ultimately serves as a cautionary tale. Roosevelt was an impatient man, with a priggish view of the world. A bag of contradictions and competing impulses, he's revealed as something of a martinet. He was convinced of his own virtue, and eventually came to believe that any competing or moderating view was corrupt. He served in his post for only a year and a half, turning the police department into a vice squad. He 'rambled' the city at night, searching for infractions. The violator might be a sleeping cop, an unaccompanied female (his views on single women would fit well in today's Riyadh) or a saloon open on Sunday. He campaigned tirelessly, forcing considerable--albeit short-lived--change.

It turns out that New York wanted reform, but not so much of it. Poor people lost a soothing cold beer on Sunday. The down-and-out lost the corner of the police barracks where they might sleep. Roosevelt's privileged upbringing left him no ability to see pain at the bottom. He felt that simple virtue would cure all. This inflexibility turned much of the population against him, and a dangerously wounded Tammany Hall soon found ways to fight back. Roosevelt's own impatience denied him the ability to play the long game, gradually instating a more permanent change. His inability to listen to counter-arguments turned allies into enemies and planted the seeds of failure in ground that would always be resistant. And his own restlessness took his eye off the ball and always on to the next green pasture. While New York tired of him, his demagogic speeches found purchase in other parts of the country. In short order, he moved on to Assistant Secretary of the Navy, the army, Governor, Vice-President and finally the Presidency.

There's much to appreciate about Roosevelt the President, most especially the beginning of a national environmental movement. This younger version, while a fascinating human, is awfully hard to like. Most of us know that person, steadfastly rigid in received wisdom, that could stand to loosen up a little. That is Roosevelt. Richard Zacks has given us an intense read, leavened by his own wry wit and that of characters from the period. The city, removed from us by more than a century, still feels like New York. It's a dynamic, glorious mess that swings between poles. This little chunk of time comes right back to us.

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The crooks vs. the do-gooders January 24, 2012

By Dienne TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

"...the vitality of New York City sometimes seems to come more from the crooks than the do-gooders."

--Epilogue, Island of Vice

Richard Zacks presents a rollicking, yet thoroughly researched account of the year (or so) in the life of then-future president Theodore Roosevelt, as well as the city which (rather unwillingly) boosted him onto the national stage. New York in the mid-1890s was a vile yet vibrant dragon of a city and Roosevelt was the white knight born to tame, if not slay, it.

The book opens, fittingly enough, with a nude woman. Manhattanites in the Victorian Era were graced by a thirteen foot sculpture of Diana at the highest point of their skyline, just above Madison Square Garden. Diana was "the perfect symbol of New York in the 1890s, a city of silk top hats on Wall Street and sixteen-year-old prostitutes trawling Broadway." And so through this symbol Zacks sets up the contrasts and conflicts of a teeming city thronged with multi-cultural immigrants at the height of the morally "pure" Victorian Era. This is the story of the poor and working class masses of that city struggling to survive and thrive, the base and criminal elements which protected, entertained and exploited them, and the zealous noblesse oblige of the man who tried to "save" them.

Zacks spends the first sixty or so pages setting the stage for Roosevelt's grand entrance. Reverend Charles H. Parkhurst, playing John the Baptist crying in the wilderness, decries the state of vice and corruption which has gripped the city - the prostitution, the gambling, the drinking. His passionate, although perhaps ill-advised sermon ruffles a few well-connected feathers, who charge Parkhurst with libel. Parkhurst and his agents set out to expose the rampant vice in the city and the ubiquitous corruption of the police and politicians who look the other way, for a price. The newspapers eat it up. The confrontation culminates with the historic Lexow Commission, a public eager for reform, and openings on a newly-revamped Police Commission Board. Enter Roosevelt, stage right.

At first the four-member bipartisan board functions like a well-oiled machine, rooting out vice and prosecuting and dismissing the tainted officers who allowed it. Although the former Tammany Hal machine is still powerful and connected, it is no match for the four warriors of the Police Board, an irate public tired of shakedowns and police brutality, and the newspapers which cheer on the gallant reformers.

But then the board stops preaching and starts meddling. Roosevelt, backed by the Board at least initially, decides that all the laws must be equally enforced in the name of justice. These laws just happen to include Sunday "Blue Laws" forbidding the sale of alcohol on the Lord's Day. Until Roosevelt's time, such laws were routinely ignored in the decadent city, and the public generally seemed to like it that way. Sunday was the only non-working day and most working stiffs liked to spend it relaxing with a cold brew, especially among immigrant groups for whom drinking also held social and cultural meaning. Roosevelt, however, saw the Lord's Day as a day for rest and family picnics, even if they had to be forced.

The pressures created by Roosevelt's zealotry created many enemies, as well as ruptures within the board. Many of the newspapers, even those basically supporting reform, turned against Roosevelt on the issue of Sunday prohibition. They argued that if all laws had to be enforced, even poor ice sellers and flower peddlers should be imprisoned. They argued the economic damage to saloon owners, for whom Sunday was usually the busiest day of the week. They argued the hypocrisy of the fact that Roosevelt himself could drink as much as he wanted on Sundays at the Union Club because private clubs were exempt from the law.

Additionally, immigrant groups such as the Germans who formerly supported Roosevelt's reform efforts began to turn against him. Even the Republican Party was reluctant to allow him to speak on their behalf, especially after New York City voted to return Tammany Hall to power in protest of Sunday prohibition. Roosevelt's powerful personality and animated speaking style enraptured some, especially those who attended reform and temperance meetings and rallies, but nevertheless, public opinion, especially in New York, began to turn heavily against him.

Perhaps most painful for the rather naďve Roosevelt were the political machinations in which he got caught up, some of which turned personal. While Commissioner Andrews remained devoted to him, Commissioners Grant and Parker, along with Police Chief Conlin, had serious rifts with Roosevelt over different issues which set up a power struggle for control of the Board. Roosevelt, adamant that he was right, refused to back down or even compromise for the sake of harmony, but nonetheless he found the conflict intolerable. He began spending more and more time traveling the state and even the country giving stump speeches about reform and meeting contacts to lay the groundwork for his hoped elevation to Assistant Secretary of the Navy.

Zacks paints a marvelously detailed and witty picture of all aspects of the history he presents. He portrays New York City of the 1890s, both the high and the law, with such vibrancy that we feel we're there, whether slinking through the vice dens of the Bowery or sitting in on a court proceeding against corrupt officers. All the main characters (and many of the minor ones) are presented as real human beings with all their wonder, wit and warts. If I didn't know better, I'd almost think Zacks was a time traveler who actually lived the world he writes about.

But most of all Zacks paints an uncompromising picture of his main character. We all know Theodore Roosevelt as the Rough Rider, hero of the Spanish-American War. We know his love of the outdoors and his gift of the National Parks. We know his contribution to World War I and his famous saying about carrying a big stick. But this book delves deeper into Roosevelt's restless relentlessness, into his uncompromising convictions (which, for better or worse, reminded me a lot of George W. Bush) and even into his hypocrisy. At the same time he was crusading against saloons being open on Sundays for the poor man, Roosevelt and his elite cohort drank the night (and day) away at private clubs and in private homes. At the same time he prosecuted a theatre establishment in the Tenderloin for indecency (simulated nudity), he admitted much more could be seen at the opera. And perhaps worst of all, while he battled patronage jobs at the local level, he himself used every crony connection at his disposal to land his coveted position as Assistant Secretary to the Navy. None of such faults diminish his accomplishments, but they give a human perspective to the man himself, and remind us that hero worship can be a dangerous thing.

Although I came away from this book rather soured on the single-minded, unbending and hypocritical Roosevelt (in fact, I often found myself cheering for his opponents, even the clearly corrupted ones), the book itself is a masterpiece. Although it contains history enough for even the most avid history buff, it is more than just a history book. It is an engaging and witty narrative and an insightful profile of one of the most vivid figures in American history and the times that made him. Highly recommended for high school students and adults alike.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Theodore Roosevelt's little-known failure... February 4, 2012

By Cynthia K. Robertson TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

For as much as I have read about Theodore Roosevelt, I knew very little about his time as police commissioner of New York City. Despite what TR wrote in his autobiography, this was the one job in which he pretty much failed. Richard Zacks sets the record straight in the informative and often entertaining Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt's Doomed Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York.

New Yorkers were tired of Tammany Hall and finally voted in some reform candidates. Much of the push for reform in NYC came from the Reverend Charles H. Parkhurst, who formed the Society for the Prevention of Crime. Parkhurst went after illegal drinking, gambling, and prostitution, as well as the complete disregard for Blue Laws. In 1895, newly elected mayor William L. Strong appointed Roosevelt as one of four police commissioners for the city. TR and his fellow commissioners set out to clean up both wide-spread corruption in the police department, as well as the disregard for laws by her citizens. While he initially made some inroads in closing bars on Sundays and trying to rid the force of corrupt officers, after two years, the situation was almost as bad as when he started. Plus, the police commission became a totally dysfunctional and ineffective group as the four battled for control. Zacks gives us a very readable account of New York City in the mid1890s.

Although TR didn't always agree with the laws that he was enforcing, he claimed that it was his job to enforce laws, and not to interpret them. Yet, "Newspapers now delighted in unearthing every dead-letter law imaginable to show the absurdity of Roosevelt's doctrinaire enforcement of all laws: no barber poles taller than five feet; no kite-flying south of 14th Street; no boarding a streetcar in motion (arrest half the men in the city); no placing of flower pots on windowsills (arrest half the women); no fishing off docks on Sunday (arrest the boys);" etc. Yet, through his failure in NYC, Roosevelt learned many lessons that made him a good president later on. "His two years there launched him onto the national stage; he honed his speaking skills; he even learned to silence himself occasionally so he could carry the Republican banner another day. He developed thicker skin and an intermittent sense of humor about newspaper attacks; he learned the impracticality of bitter feuds, the dangers of impulsive crusades." He also surrounded himself with able advisors such as Henry Cabot Lodge and Elihu Root. These cautious men had the skill to restrain TR when he got carried away.

Island of Vice is a must for any fan of Theodore Roosevelt. But even those just interested in history will find much to like here.