Like many other readers, I was drawn to Nelson Johnson's book through the HBO show it inspired. As Nucky Thompson drew further away from reality and more into a weird, violent, nihilistic fantasy world that only seems to exist in "gritty" gangster shows and movies, I got more interested in what Nucky Johnson was actually like. On that note, the other N. Johnson's book delivers with aplomb. Boardwalk Empire is a breezy read. The chapters on the founding of Atlantic City's corrupt dynasty by the Commodore, carrying through to the real life Nucky's thirty year reign, into the political machinery of "Hap" Farley is fascinating. Johnson mostly remembers that the empire such men topped included its own shadow bureaucracy of ward workers, constituent services, and African American hotel employees. The result feels more nuanced, as chapters deviate into deeper dives on the actual day to day life of the machine and the city.
Unfortunately, the book doesn't end with Hap, and the last two chapters land on such a sour note that I wish the author would write an updated version. Two problems rear their ugly heads in the last few chapters, one structural, the other just historic:
1. Johnson's writing style is very stop-and-go, with the narrative advancing only to the next person Johnson finds interesting, then he backtracks to write out several pages of biography. After "Hap" Farley this accelerates and more and more backstories clog up the flow. Johnson also writes all of his political figures in a weirdly fawning, half friendly light, downplaying the damage of corruption and playing up their community roles.
2. I can only explain the last chapter as awkward reading in 2018. Johnson concludes the book with Donald Trump, who he treats as a narrative thru-line to the Commodore. Which, among other things, means referring to "The Donald" accordingly to a grating degree. Given that the book was completed before Trump concluded his smash and grab in Atlantic City, using junk bonds to finance his casinos then running for the hills with the profits as they burned behind him, Johnson ends by declaring how great legalized gambling has been for Atlantic City; how it built a "different kind" of casino culture. The book would be better served by the newer ending, with casinos playing out one the role of one more line of credit to a desperate gambler in deep with the sharks. It's certainly the narrative Trump used on the campaign trail, mocking the city and New Jersey's governor as suckers who got out too late.
Regardless I'd recommend Empire. As a work of history it's compelling, even its foray into current events badly predicts the present.
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Really interesting & informative.
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Intereting history
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