Through the latest installment of Amazon Vine, I was able to obtain an ARC of a biography of Napoleon—Napoleon: The Path to Power, 1769-1799, by Philip Dwyer. It’s a biography of his earliest years and it looks like one of those books that might appeal mostly to diehard Napoleonophiles. Yes, I made up that word. It’s a book that’s 600 pages in length, minus all the endnotes and bibliography. I’m not completely excited about opening it, but I know that I’ve got to write a review about it at some point. But who knows? Maybe I’ll end up liking it.
I’ve finished reading another nonfiction book called The Gangs of New York, by Herbert Asbury, on which the movie is based (paradoxically, the cover says that Leonardo DiCaprio was the star of the movie; and while that’s true, Daniel Day Lewis, who in my opinion is a better actor, was also in it, as Bill the Butcher). Published in 1927, the book is quite dated, but it’s an excellent introduction to the underworld of New York City in the nineteenth century. It’s mostly a work of popular and cultural history, as opposed to sociological. Many of the tales Asbury tells on this book are based on rumor and myth and often it’s not quite clear what’s factual. But I’ve always been fascinated with deviant behavior in history, and for that alone I thought highly of The Gangs of New York.
I’ve finished reading another nonfiction book called The Gangs of New York, by Herbert Asbury, on which the movie is based (paradoxically, the cover says that Leonardo DiCaprio was the star of the movie; and while that’s true, Daniel Day Lewis, who in my opinion is a better actor, was also in it, as Bill the Butcher). Published in 1927, the book is quite dated, but it’s an excellent introduction to the underworld of New York City in the nineteenth century. It’s mostly a work of popular and cultural history, as opposed to sociological. Many of the tales Asbury tells on this book are based on rumor and myth and often it’s not quite clear what’s factual. But I’ve always been fascinated with deviant behavior in history, and for that alone I thought highly of The Gangs of New York.
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