Excerpt from The Five Points Monthly Record, Vol. 1: June, 1854; No. V House; scan the wan countenances of its inmates, study their forlorn and love less condition: ask their history and prospects from their keepers, who know them best. Future occasions may be afforded us to illustrate alms-house life, by sketch or narrative. For the present, we content ourselves with reprinting from a daily paper the impressions derived by the present writer, from a favorable View of our Pauper Islands, last April. The following paragraphs, by just praise, carefully awarded where merit seemed to require it, will serve also to guard the present article from the imputation of indiscriminate severity. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The Five Points Monthly Record, Vol. 1: March and April, 1854 But the cause? This question has likewise found an answer. It had been known from the foundation of the world, that man was capable of surrendering himself to sensual vices when tempted by means and leisure; and also, that idleness would clothe him in rags. But could these explain why human beings starve to death, or prolong life only by the most horrible process of dying, in cel lars two stories under ground, or stacked as it were, above ground, in masses of mingled life and corruption, too loathsome for imagination to conceive, art to represent, or senses to endure? Scarcely! About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The Five Points Monthly Record, Vol. 1: November 1854 This Magazine will be continued for 1855, in the same style, on the same general plan and at the same low price, as in 1854. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Nineteenth-century NYC’s most dynamic and dangerous neighborhood comes vividly to life in this “careful, intelligent, and sympathetic history” (The New York Times Book Review). Located in today’s Chinatown, Five Points was home to poor immigrants and other marginalized communities. It witnessed more riots, scams, prostitution, and drunkenness than any other neighborhood in America. But at the same time it was a font of creative energy, crammed full of cheap theaters, dance halls, and boxing matches. It was also the home of meeting halls for the political clubs and the machine politicians who would come to dominate not just the city but an entire era in American politics. Drawing from letters, diaries, newspapers, bank records, police reports, and archaeological digs, Anbinder has written the first-ever history of Five Points, the neighborhood that was a microcosm of the American immigrant experience. The story that Anbinder tells is the classic tale of America’s immigrant past, as successive waves of new arrivals fought for survival in a land that was as exciting as it was dangerous, as riotous as it was culturally rich. A New York Times Notable Book