About book Rothstein: The Life, Times, And Murder Of The Criminal Genius Who Fixed The 1919 World Series (2003)
The story of the life and times of Arnold Rothstein -- his many criminal exploits in iconic 1920s Manhattan -- is fascinating. Unfortunately this particular book fails to convey the forest for the trees, and what could have been an epic tale gets bogged down with an impossible-to-remember amount of names, court cases, and circumstances. I saved it from 2-star status largely because I don't really blame the author: there's an absurd amount of hijinks to catalog in Rothstein's relatively short life.He is known to history largely as the mastermind behind the 1919 fix of the World Series. And though this was a crazy enough event -- he actually engineered two separate fixes, then played each party off the other -- it's just one chapter in the life of a criminal who knew nothing except a desire to keep cheating for more money.If you can think of an organized criminal activity, Rothstein made money off it: illicit gambling, horse racing, baseball, boxing, labor racketeering, drugs. He took advantage of Prohibition by subsidizing a horizontal monopoly of the the liquor trade, from distilleries in England to speakeasies in Manhattan. And at the peak of Tammany corruption, he seemingly had every politician, judge, jury, district attorney, and police chief bought and paid for. All amid the glitz and glamour of Broadway in the Roaring 20s.That's why I feel like it fell short. I kept getting pulled away from the overarching craziness of the times thanks to references to this judge and that murder or that horse owner from 100 pages ago. Simply too many crimes and criminals to keep track of.The one (obvious) thought I'm left with is how tame our times are compared with 1920s New York. What I mean is, you had cops killing witnesses, Tammany bosses controlling everything from roaming casinos to who got elected where. Your vote didn't matter. Justice wasn't served. You weren't safe from crime because specially-protected criminals almost never got arrested, those who got arrested almost never got tried, those who got tried almost never got convicted, those who got convicted almost always wen free. And people were just fine with this -- I mean, fine enough to not violently protest.Then again, our idea of protest today is sitting in publicly subsidized parks playing drum circles and demanding free stuff. Maybe today's criminals are just a lot better at it now.
I have always been fascinated with the notorious gangsters of the early 1900’s America – it probably stems from my criminal justice degree background. I also have always loved reading about the period of the 1920s and 30s – all the glitz and glamor. This book has both of those qualities and was absolutely packed with random tidbits and facts.Rothstein is one of the most fascinating characters of this period – he had his hands in every piece of the pie from gambling, to rum running, fixing sports events, and much more. All of these aspects are covered in detail in individual chapters of this book. We get into the mind of Rothstein and understand how he saw the world. He lived the high life of 1920’s New York and we are privy to all of that. And just because of Rothstein died in 1928 does not mean his story ends there – Pietrusza takes us on a wild ride of the investigation into his murder.There is an extensive epilogue which follows the life stories of every character, even the minor ones. I appreciated this information for the major characters that were very instrumental in Rothstein’s life; however the passing characters I could have done without their eventual life stories. I began to lose interest as the epilogue ran on. I spent more time wondering who the people were that he had talked about. Additionally, throughout the book when we would encounter new and important figures, the author would frequently take a tangent to tell us the story of this other characters – which sometimes took me away from my interest in Rothstein. However, it was helpful at times to flesh out the world that Rothstein moved in. So it was a love-hate relationship for me.Overall I learned a great deal about this man, and while I can’t admire him for obvious reasons, I’m blown away by his mind and how he was able to accomplish all of these things without ever being caught for any of it. It also has given me the inspiration to read more on other notorious gangsters.The narration and audio presentation of this book was well done but relatively standard. There isn’t really anything that I can complain about for it, but was not totally memorable either.
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As other reviewers pointed out, there's just not enough information on Rothstein to convincingly portray him as a crime lord, yet his biographers (including this one) consistently attempt to do so.Here's a slightly different take: Is it just -possible- that maybe Rothstein wasn't a major player, just a gambler and hanger-on who happened to know a bunch of people who were or became notorious?It's at least as likely as the viewpoint pushed in this book, but I guess that second hypothesis wouldn't sell a whole lot of copies.
—E. Kahn
Admittedly, I got interested in Rothstein after watching Boardwalk Empire. But who knew that the real AR was depicted so exactly in the show?!The book is very well researched and dug deep into Rothstein's life, presenting all aspects of his life from birth to his death. It also discusses most of his 'businesses' and alliances in detail. It can certainly be the definitive bio of AR, but there are weaknesses.The topics fly all over the place and often jumps from one topic to the other, which makes it a confusing read in parts. To add to the confusion, there are too many names in the book. Practically, the entire underworld of New York in 1920s is named, which can be good in one way but it can also easily confuse people. There is a list of names and what they did at the very beginning but I still found it hard to remember everyone and how they were related to AR.Except for these,the book was great and it was great fun reading about the Big Brain.
—Kavita
Well-researched biography of Arnold Rothstein who I previously knew best from Hyman Roth's great line in the Godfather, Part II "I've loved baseball ever since Arnold Rothstein fixed the World Series in 1919" and as a good character on one of my favorite shows, Boardwalk Empire. The "real" Arnold Rothstein also known as "the Great Brain" and "the Big Fixer" is even more interesting than the "fictional" one. The man was into everything from gambling, politics, bootlegging, real estate, drug running, Broadway shows, sports and more. You have to appreciate all of the above and have an appreciation of history to enjoy the book. It drags at points because of the extensive research and documentation.
—Ken Lawrence
