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BOSS TWEED: The Corrupt Pol who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York by [Kenneth D. Ackerman]

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Kenneth D. Ackerman

BOSS TWEED: The Corrupt Pol who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York Kindle Edition

by Kenneth D. Ackerman (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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William Magear Tweed, America's most corrupt politician ever, ruled New York City in the 1860s and 1870s. He rigged the votes, bribed the legislature, and stole on a massive scale. But even in prison, even after escaping, being recaptured, and confessing it all, people still loved and admired him. Tweed's is a stunning tale of pride, fall, and redemption.

"[An] excelling new biography of the Boss ... told in a crisp, clear way." --Pete Hamill, New York Times book Review

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446 pages
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English
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Publication date

January 10, 2016
File size

6865 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"[An] excellent new biography of the Boss . . . told in a crisp, clear way."--Pete Hamill, New York Times Book Review"A pleasure to read."--Kenneth T. Jackson, Washington Post Book World"[A] compelling look at the colorful yet ruthless man ...." --Publishers Weekly (starred review) --This text refers to the paperback edition.

From Bookmarks Magazine

For historians, Tweed "is worth his weight in gold" (New York Times). Ackerman, who has written previous books on Gilded Age excesses, focuses on the years after 1870 when Tweed hopscotched between court and jail. Critics agree that Tweed, his cronies, and the crusading journalists responsible for his spectacular downfall come alive. Colorful details and a clear-eyed approach to both Tweed’s great leadership and even greater crimes highlight his opportunist philosophy and antics, though his formative years remain a mystery. A poor sense of chronology, combined with failures to address revisionist claims that Tweed was an "honest grafter" and examine his effect on the "soul of modern New York," weaken the book. Despite these flaws, Boss Tweed is an excellent history with modern-day parables.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Ackerman previously regaled readers with Gilded Age shenanigans (The Gold Ring: Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, and Black Friday, 1869, 1988) and now capitalizes on another of the era's memorable rogues: William Tweed. An associate's eulogy after Tweed died in a New York City jail in 1878--that "Tweed was not an honest politician, but a level one"--bespeaks another side to Tweed's story than his gargantuan graft would imply. Ackerman alludes to positive points in Tweed's defense, such as his interest in acculturating immigrants and getting things built. But Tweed's notoriety stems from his vertiginous downfall, which Ackerman narrates with an accent on the political and press frenzy that surrounded it. Triggered by a city clerk with a conscience, whose evidence of systematic swindles wound its way to a then-insignificant New York Times, the scandal was blood in the water to rival politicians and to Thomas Nast, whose caricatures remain the indelible image of the corpulent Tweed. For connoisseurs of corruption, Ackerman shrewdly mixes together the reformist zeal and political opportunism that marked Tweed's career. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. William Marcy Tweed didn't invent graft, but he rigged elections and stole from the public on an unprecedented scale, gaining a stranglehold on New York City and amassing a vast personal fortune. By the early 1870s, he and his "ring" had skimmed between $25 and $40 million from the municipal treasury, a staggering amount even in an era notorious for robber barons and market manipulators. Ackerman, the author of The Gold Ring: Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, and Black Friday 1869, a book about two other Gilded Age scoundrels, deftly chronicles Tweed's epic rise and ultimate disgrace, giving us a nuanced portrait of the "Boss." Early in his career, Tweed brilliantly recognized that he could win power by mobilizing New York's teeming working-class and immigrant wards. Through patronage and largesse, Tweed recruited an army of ballot-box stuffers who helped install his cronies in office, allowing him to award jobs and contracts to friends while punishing enemies. Tweed's ring borrowed vast amounts on the city's tab and spent lavishly on such public projects as Central Park, making Tweed "the city's grand benefactor, Santa Claus with a diamond pin." But while Ackerman gives Tweed his due, describing how the Boss's machine aided the poor and helped modernize a crowded, chaotic city, the author is too clear-eyed to present his subject as a latter-day Robin Hood. Ackerman's Boss Tweed robbed everyone-and kept plenty for himself. And ultimately, Tweed's corruption and fiscal recklessness had crippling consequences for the city long after he died, penniless, in jail. In the end, this book is not only a compelling look at the colorful yet ruthless man who invented the big city political machine, it is also the gripping story of how dedicated newspapermen and zealous reformers brought down a notorious kingpin.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Kenneth D. Ackermanis the author of the Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of James A. Garfield, featured on C-Span's “Booknotes” and “BookTV” plus National Public Radio's “All Thing's Considered,” and The Gold Ring: Wall Street's Swindle of the Century and Its Most Scandalous Crash—Black Friday, 1869, which recounts a notorious attempt to corner the post-–Civil War gold market.

Ackerman is a 25-year veteran of senior positions in Congress, the executive branch, and financial regulation. As Administrator of the Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency from 1993 through 2001, he headed the Federal crop insurance program that protects more than one million American farm producers. Ackerman has also served two tours on U.S. Senate staffs, first as Counsel to the Committee on Governmental Affairs (1975-–81) under then-Senator Charles H. Percy, Republican, of Illinois, and later as Special Counsel to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry (1988–93) under its then-Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat, of Vermont. During the years between, he held senior legal positions at the U. S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

In these positions, Ackerman has investigated issues ranging from the 1979–180 silver corner to the 1987 stock market crash, and developed legislation on topics from farm policy to electronic eavesdropping to civil service reform to financial market oversight. He has testified before dozens of Congressional hearings and town meetings with farmers in more than twenty states, as well as bar assciations and government officials in London, Warsaw, Vienna, Tel Aviv, and Ramallah.

He was profiled in Government Executive magazine in 1997 and included by National Journal that year in its “Washington 100” list of top Federal decision-makers. He currently teaches seminars on legislation and lobbying for TheCapitol.Net.

A native of Albany, New York, and graduate of Brown University (1973) and the Georgetown University Law Center (1976), Ackerman practices law in Washington, D. C. and lives with his wife Karen in Falls Church, Virginia.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B006PLV11A
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viral History Press LLC (January 10, 2016)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 10, 2016
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 6865 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 446 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #937,788 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,567 in Biographies of Political Leaders
- #5,047 in Historical Biographies (Kindle Store)
- #6,340 in Political Leader Biographies

Customer Reviews:
4.4 143 ratings

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Kenneth D. Ackerman

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I’m Ken Ackerman and writing history has been a passion of mine for over twenty years,and politics an obsession since the 1960s. To me, history has to have a purpose, to expose truth, to point direction, to provoke thought. It has to tell a story.

I’m especially drawn to neglected topics like the Gilded Age, the post-World War I Red Scare, or old ocean divers — blind spots in our collective memory that often point to raw nerves.

When not writing, I practice law in Washington, D.C. at OFW Law. Before that, I held a long line of political spots on Capitol Hill (staff counsel to two US Senate Committees, Governmental Affairs and Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry) and in two Administrations (under Bill Clinton at the US Department of Agriculture and under Ronald Reagan at a regulatory commission called the CFTC).

But enough about me. Hope you enjoy the books. Humor me on the attitude. –KenA

Check out my web site at www.KennethAckerman.com

Check out my blog at www.viralhistory.com

Contact me at kackerman@viralhistory.com

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

143 global ratings

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4 star		26%
3 star		6%
2 star		5%
1 star		3%

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Superb Account of A Political Machine We All Know By Name But Have Few Real Details

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 18, 2013

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We all learned in school about the Tammany Hall political machine and how it was an embarrassing blot on New York politics. But I knew precious few real details. This is a superbly researched and well-written account. It develops all the main characters: The ring leaders, Tweed, Sweeny, Connolly and Hall; its journalistic nemeses who pursued it publicly with no real evidence, the fledgling New York Times and its owner George Jones and Thomas Nast, a young political cartoonist who made a national reputation on caricaturing this machine; the disgruntled lower echelon machine ruffian-politician who delivered hard evidence to the Times, Jimmy O'Brien; the lawyer who sealed the machine's demise and almost rode it to the White House, Samuel Tilden; and the prosecutors who put Tweed away but did little else to expose the details of the frauds or bring his cohorts to justice. The stability and reach of this machine was incredible. It owned New York City politics, and nearly owned New York state politics. When details of the fraud emerged, fingering Tweed, he was toxic. He was too toxic for his friends to defend, and too toxic for his enemies to pursue. Apparently his knowledge of graft and corruption among politicians and his call for favors was so complete that all believed he had the power to bring them down. Ironically, Tilden, the private practice lawyer who entered elective politics to clean up this mess, was defrauded out of the Presidency in the 1876 election. The "fix" there was not at the hands of Democratic Tammany Hall, but by the Republican Party. The details of how that election was stolen are not really developed here, but it is a real irony of this story.

I highly recommend this book to any history buff. I learned a great deal about something that previously was just a label for me. And it was a compelling read that I just could not stop reading.

8 people found this helpful

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Lehigh History Student

Another Gilded Age classic from Ackerman

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 31, 2009

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Boss Tweed is another excellent book on gilded age history by Kenneth Ackerman. This time Ackerman provides a look at one of the most corrupt politicians (in terms of dollars stolen) in American history and looks at how he rose to power and what kept him there. Mostly Boss Tweed is shone for what he was, a ward boss who excelled at corruption and getting his constituents what they want. Even at the time of his trail he was not universally condemned and many argued unjustly imprisoned given his conviction of misdemeanor. It was not until he fled the authorities and his later confession that his reputation began to tarnish. Even then we see Boss Tweed as one of the most infamous figures in Gilded Age history for his detailed political schemes, power triangles, and reckless profiteering from the public till that make him the most intriguing " boss" in political history.
This book also take time to introduce the men who tried to bring down William Tweed and the flaws that they brought as well. From New York Times editor to the famous Thomas Nast whose cartoons would help elect a president and destroy Boss Tweed all are explored throughout the book. There are also several reproductions of the various cartoons scattered throughout to gain a look at the effectiveness of each. The start of the "watchdog" press is born in this time and while it would take many years of muckraking to refine it the beginnings are seen here.
Overall it is a great book showing the times and the start of many dominant trends in America from investigative journalism, the political boss system, and the shift from local government towards federal for works projects. It is written very well and reads like a fiction story that is easy to follow and a real page turner. Highly recommended for anyone with a general interest in history or politics but for gilded age fans it is a special read!

6 people found this helpful

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Art Denzau

Very good

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 12, 2012

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We think of corruption and dirty politics/newspapers as something that happens in other countries, not the US. Wrong again - we were there big time, and it took some brave people and great newspapers to get us past this problem to the extent we have done so. Political machines (Pendergast in Kansas City, Hague in Jersey City, Daley in Chicago, Byrd in Virginia) are all recent phenomena in the US, and worked like those in other countries - usually new democracies or at least republics. Immigrants and rural folks coming to the city want jobs and political machines trade jobs for votes and power. Both sides of the bargain benefit, and the voters see no problem with their politicians getting a bit rich from taxing other folks. Only when the politicians cannot target their benefits to their supporters, but must provide benefits to all citizens does this corrupt bargain come to an end.

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Jim Martin

Tweed - The Boss of it All !

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 10, 2006

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This is a great look at Boss Tweed, Tammany, Graft and everything else that was going on in the 1800's. I was happily surprised to see who Tweed really was. Comparing the book to the movie "Gangs of New York", Tweed did not give off the impression of being a very important man; Bill the Butcher stole that role. But after reading this book, you get a true inside account of who was really "pulling the strings" in NYC. Tweed was the cream of the crop in his world, and he had his hands in everything (a thief way before his time). Whether illegal or not - you have to admire his accomplishments. In a way, he was like the bad guy in a movie that you didn't want to see fall at the end, but he did. This book was very satisfying and I am now looking into some of Ackerman's other books as well.

4 people found this helpful

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Dave Schan

A bit of a letdown

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 4, 2013

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Shortly after the Civil War, Boss Tweed and his three closest political friends bilked New York City of millions and lived a pretty lavish lifestyle, for a while. Tweed, in particular, was targeted for prosecution and paid dearly in the end. More of the book was spent discussing the fall of Tweed-- investigations, trials, time in prison, than the rise of Tweed. I thought this latter portion dragged out unnecessarily. The story of Tweed's greed and political power has been replicated in many governments in the US and elsewhere. It seems that those who become powerful enough to steal forgot to read the last half of this book-- when you are caught, the price you pay is pretty stiff.

3 people found this helpful

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DOPPLEGANGER

Spellbinding

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 29, 2007

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Although more Fall than Rise, Kenneth Ackerman's well researched account of Boss Tweed's central role in the almost absolute control of both New York's politics and finances in the mid 1800's, is a magnificent testament to the difficult task of the economic historian.

It plots Tweed's beginnings, building his power base in The Tammany Society and the important part played by him in defusing the New York Draft Riots, his stranglehold of both city and state politics and his pivotal role, with others known as The Ring, in the manipulation and theft of vasts sums of public money.

The exposure and ultimate downfall of The Ring was mainly down to George Jones, proprietor of The New York Times and illustator, Thomas Nast who's weekly drawings in Harpers Weekly made Tweed a laughingstock. For a period these two waged a lone crusade against a very powerful and well entrenched enemy but things changed in their favour when a fellow Tammany member, James O'Brien, felt he had been cheated by Tweed,and provided George Jones with documentary evidence of The Ring's monumental thefts from the public purse.

The events leading to his exposure, trials and imprisonment, his escape and recapture, attempts to confess all and obtain a release, his disintergrating health, marriage and death in prison, are all meticulously detailed.

Yes, Boss Tweed was an arrogant, bullying and incredibly dishonest individual who deserved all that befell him. However by the end of the book I found myself begining to feel sorry for him and wishing that had he used his talents in the commercial scene of the day where his ambition, drive, and street-cunning would have readily elevated him to the rank of Robber Baron alongside his one-time chums Jim Fisk and Jay Gould.

Kenneth Ackerman take a bow - you certainly deserve it for this superb work.

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