In his memoir about life on a big city newspaper, former reporter Collins explores his experiences at the "New York Daily News, " America's first tabloid, in the days before 24-hour cable news and when a reporter's tools still were a notepad, pen, manual typewriters, and dial phones that worked on dimes.

"A revered and provocative theater observer presents a grand history of the producers, directors, actors, and critics battling for creative and financial control of Broadway"--Front jacket flap.

The never-before-told story of The Peppermint Lounge, the famed Manhattan nightspot and mobster hangout that launched an era The Peppermint Lounge was intended to be nothing more than a front for gambling and other rackets but the club became a sensation after Dick "Cami" Camillucci began to feature a new kind of music, rock and roll. The mobsters running the place found themselves juggling rebellious youths alongside celebrities like Greta Garbo and Shirley MacLaine. When The Beatles visited the club, Cami's uncle-in-law had to restrain a hitman who was after Ringo because his girlfriend was so infatuated with the drummer. Working with Dick Cami himself, Johnson and Selvin unveil this engrossing story of the go-go sixties and the club that inspired the classic hits "Twisting the Night Away" and "The Peppermint Twist."

The New York City historian and author of The Bowery takes readers on a tour of New York’s infamous underworld in this revealing guide. During the early twentieth century, Sicilian and Southern Italian immigrants poured into New York City looking for a better life. But while they escaped the kind of poverty and persecution they experienced in the old country, they soon discovered that certain criminal enterprises followed them to America. Over the years, the island of Manhattan would become a hotbed of organized crime and underworld intrigue. It’s a version of the city that remains invisible to most visitors—until now. In this revealing tour of New York City’s mafia history, Eric Ferrara gives readers an insider’s look at how the mob lived—and where they died. Ferrara goes inside mafia hangouts from the Copacabana to Milady’s Bar and the Thompson Street Social Club. He vividly recounts infamous episodes in the lives of famous mafia men, like Charlie “Lucky” Luciano and Joey Gallo, as well as more obscure players who will be new to most readers. From the beginnings of Black Hand criminal networks to the reign of an all-powerful organized crime syndicate, Manhattan Mafia Guide offers a fascinating look down New York City’s mean streets.

Collins presents a chronicle of journal entries written between 1980 and 1988 by a journalist who worked for Mobil Oil Corporation, which at the time was at the center of the energy crisis. When edited later, the author found his journal also revealed a story of redemption for a father and son.

Gerald J. Scott: "War on Drugs, 1971-1978: A View from the Trenches"--5 Landmark Events -- Introduction -- Pat Royse: "Fire in the Streets" -- Tara Collins Gordon: "Chicago '68" -- Sheila Lennon: "Woodstock Nation" -- Carole Barbato and Laura Davis: "Ordinary Lives: Kent State, May 4, 1970" -- 6 Speaking Out -- Introduction -- Jackie Goldberg: "Sit Down! Sit Down!" -- Maria and Antonia Saludado, with Kent Kirkton: "Standing With César" -- Samuel Lovejoy: "Somebody's Got to Do It" -- The Contributors

Forget what you think you know about the Mafia. After reading this book, even life-long mob aficionados will have a new perspective on organized crime. Informative, authoritative, and eye-opening, this is the first full-length book devoted exclusively to uncovering the hidden history of how the Mafia came to dominate organized crime in New York City during the 1930s through 1950s. Based on exhaustive research of archives and secret files obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, author and attorney C. Alexander Hortis draws on the deepest collection of primary sources, many newly discovered, of any history of the modern mob. Shattering myths, Hortis reveals how Cosa Nostra actually obtained power at the inception. The author goes beyond conventional who-shot-who mob stories, providing answers to fresh questions such as: * Why did the Sicilian gangs come out on top of the criminal underworld? * Can economics explain how the Mafia families operated? * What was the Mafia's real role in the drug trade? * Why was Cosa Nostra involved in gay bars in New York since the 1930s? Drawing on an unprecedented array of primary sources, The Mob and the City is the most thorough and authentic history of the Mafia's rise to power in the early-to-mid twentieth century.