6 h 54 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a street becomes territory, loyalty has a price, and violence becomes a trade?
In The Apaches of New York, Alfred Henry Lewis takes you into the criminal underworld of the early twentieth-century city. These sketches move through tenements, saloons and crowded blocks, among young toughs, gunmen and gang leaders. Work is scarce, hope is thin, and standing on the street can depend on a willingness to hurt others.
Lewis brings a lawyer's knowledge of police courts and a newspaper writer's eye to this world. His sketches explore the streets that breed gangs, the rules of paid violence, and the politics and police that give criminals cover. He argues that the underworld depends on the upper world, drawing attention to the quiet bargains behind the visible threats.
What you’ll discover
- Crowded streets, narrow chances Enter the tenements, saloons and crowded blocks where Lewis traces the roots of gang life.
- The gunman's trade Meet men who use violence for money, pride, or a stronger place among their peers.
- Loyalty with a price Explore gang codes and the bought loyalties that help turn a street into territory.
- Power behind the gangs Follow Lewis's account of the political and police protection that helps the underworld survive.
- A reporter's sharp eye Feel the quick, vivid manner of a writer steeped in city politics and crime.
Who will love it
For readers who love true crime, old New York, tough street talk and dark humor, and for anyone curious how gangs, police and politicians lived side by side a century ago.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Gangland lives by silence and political cover
- A sneer at a dance can start a feud
- Poverty and jealousy push a small gunman too far
- Protection money and stuss breed murder plots
- A fearsome name is a business, and it gets tested
- Jealousy over women drives much of the violence
- Gangland never forgives snitching
- Chinatown has its own law and its own wars
- The talkers and the telling give the book its voice
Who’s who
- Chick TrickerA proud gang aristocrat who has lost his Park Row bar license and strolls the Bowery on a snowy night looking for Indian Louie.
- Johnny SpanishA small, angry gunman who wants money and the love of Alma, and tries to force his way into a stuss partnership.
- AlmaA Williamsburg dressmaker and belle of the dance rackets who loves a good time and cannot be alone.
- PioggiA young Five Points fighter, under eighteen, who cannot bear the shame of being forced out a Coney Island window.
- Ike the BloodA strong Eastman leader who earns his living from a yearly dance and puts faith in a fortune teller.
- Pretty AgnesAn orphan from the East Side who knows a snitch when she sees one and keeps her promises.
- Little Bow KumA girl sold in Canton as a child who chooses her own husband in San Francisco and follows him to New York.
- Old JimmyA former river pirate living on a pension who hands out wisdom on love, money and politics to the regulars at Sirocco's.
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The Apaches of New York
by Alfred Henry Lewis · 1912
Chick Tricker walks into a crowded dance hall, and a sneer about a dance step sparks a feud.
Medium level5–10 hours to readEnglish
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In short
What happens when the police know the killer but cannot prove a thing? In The Apaches of New York, the newspaper writer Alfred Henry Lewis tells twelve stories of gang life, written in 1911 from what detectives and gangsters told him.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Gangland lives by silence and political cover
Lewis begins by telling you that the stories are true in name, time and place. He also warns that few of them end in a prison cell, because the police often know what they cannot prove and no one in Gangland will testify.
The rule behind that silence is simple. Anyone who informs is a snitch, and a snitch can be killed by anyone. Two great gangs, the Five Points and the Eastmans, divide the East Side, and smaller gangs fight under their flags. A gang protects its members and avenges them, while a man with no gang is robbed by both sides.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 7 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1912
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 4 h 30 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Lewis, Alfred Henry. The Apaches of New York. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-apaches-of-new-york.
Lewis, A. H. (2026). The Apaches of New York. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-apaches-of-new-york (Original work published 1912)
Lewis, Alfred Henry. The Apaches of New York. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-apaches-of-new-york.
@book{lewis2026apaches,
author = {Lewis, Alfred Henry},
title = {The Apaches of New York},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-apaches-of-new-york},
note = {First published 1912}
}
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What is The Apaches of New York about?
It is a set of twelve stories about New York gang life in the three years before Lewis's 1911 preface. They follow gangsters, their women, the police and the politicians who protect them, from the Bowery dance halls to Chinatown.
Are the stories in The Apaches of New York true?
Lewis says the stories are true in name, time and place, and that he heard them from police officers and gangsters. He wrote them in 1911 as a newspaper writer, and the events are set within three years before.
Who are the Apaches in the title?
The book follows New York's street gangsters and the world they inhabit. The book's main groups are the Five Points and the Eastmans, plus the smaller gangs.
The author
Alfred Henry Lewis
1855–1914 · American journalist and novelist
American investigative journalist, lawyer, author, and editor.
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