Friday, March 16, 2012

Musings: Island of Vice

Island of Vice
Island of Vice:  Theodore Roosevelt's Doomed Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York is one of those non-fiction books with very eye-catching, scandal-promising titles that hopes to lure you in with the promise of sex and sin.  There's a little sex and sin and scandal, but mostly this book is about Teddy Roosevelt himself and his rise from Police Commissioner of New York City to President of the United States.

The vast majority of the book, though, is about his time as police commissioner.

Theodore Roosevelt is the favorite president of many of my friends.  He led quite a storied life- not only was he an East Coast blueblood, but he also had a ranch out west where he bucked broncos, he was a hero in the Spanish-American war, and he established our system of national parks.  He also was very emotional and passionate, easy to anger.  As the Washington Post once said, "He slays a hippopotamus or cracks a flea with the same overwhelming ardor."

When people write about Roosevelt, they often brush over or idealize his stint as police commissioner.  But, as this book details (in great detail), Roosevelt faced a lot of criticism in his time as commissioner and set up a lot of backs of both his Republican party and the very corrupt Democratic party.  His efforts make the police force strong and get rid of corruption shook a lot of things up, and his determination to enforce all laws - particularly the law banning the sale of alcohol on Sundays - made him very unpopular in the city.

It took me several weeks to read this book.  This got very frustrating at times because I was reading it at the same time that I was reading Middlemarch, and it's tough to read two such long and detailed books that require serious concentration at the same time.  Besides that, the book also goes into a great many details about forgotten trials and scandals of the time.  When I picked the book up, I was hoping for more social history and commentary - for example, why did New York have so many brothels and bars, and how did the system work?  I wanted stories about some of the prostitutes, I wanted to learn about the "immoral dancers" and the gentlemen who requested their services.  I wanted to know about the life of a barman.  I didn't get much of that, really- or at least, not much below the surface.  Instead, I got a lot of information on the state of the New York City police force in the 1880s.  It was very interesting information, for the most part, but not what I really wanted.

There was an interesting/horrifying section on antisemitism.  One of Roosevelt's challenges while serving on the police board was to prepare for and protect a virulently antisemitic German Parliament member, Herr Hermann, on his visit and speech in New York.  The US was also in the midst of an antisemitic wave and many prominent people, including Joseph Pulitzer, kept their religion secret so as not to invite comment or criticism.  Pulitzer was so good at this that his own son didn't know he was a Jew until he was a teenager.  There were many quotes shared in the book from leading and widely-read publications of the time that are quite disturbing, so I was a little relieved to find that Herr Hermann was not received well in New York at all.  But it's hard to read about antisemitism in the late 19th century and not dread what will come about from it only a generation later.

 Overall, I enjoyed learning more about Theodore Roosevelt in this book, though he isn't portrayed in a universally positive light.  He had Opinions, and he shared those opinions, and he was very public about some things that he probably shouldn't have been.  It's amazing, really, that he managed to become such a successful politician, considering how many people he angered.  What's also amazing is how he stuck to his guns in the midst of so much opposition.  He went after very well-connected criminals, celebrated police officers and commoners off the street.  He stayed strictly unbiased in his appointments, never choosing someone for a position just because he was a Republican (this got him into a lot of trouble later).  He was clearly a very tenacious and driven man, and I can see how his ambition took him so far in life.  It was interesting to read about this period of his life because he was clearly very unhappy in his role and what he was being asked to do, but felt honor-bound to do it.  I think I'd prefer to read about his days as a Rough Rider, though, or on his many trips West and his drive to create the national parks.  Those are the accomplishments that Roosevelt is known for and that he is most proud of, and it would be interesting to see if his personality (which at times was very whiny in his time as a police commissioner) comes across as happier and easier to like in periods when he is enjoying his work.

14 comments:

  1. I saw this book and added it to my TBR list to read (some day.) A very good book on TR's early days is Mornings On Horseback by David McCullough. An easy entertaining read that goes over his childhood, asthma, his journeys out West as a very young man to try and strengthen himself, since he'd been sick so much of his childhood. Tenacious is the perfect word for him.

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    1. Yes, I should definitely read at least ONE book by McCullough, as he has tackled some really amazing subjects!

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  2. Eek, I'm sorry to hear it wasn't quite what you were expecting. I was super excited to read this. I am in the very beginning (like where the pastor is still taking the "sin tour") but I'll have to keep in mind that it's a more drawn out read.

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    1. Oh, it was still interesting to read! The beginning, especially :-)

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  3. Did this book talk about his belief in white supremacy? It was sort of one of his biggest faults, but many historians gloss over it!

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    1. They did not. I think there were very brief mentions of racist words he used (but they were described as only "mildly derogatory") towards Jews, but then there was a whole chapter on how he made life very difficult for a visiting German anti-Semite. So interesting- definitely glossed over! As is done for most American heroes until the Civil Rights movement or so...

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  4. Every time I read one of your posts I end up thinking of two other books. All I knew about TR as commissioner was from the novel The Alienist, in which he appeared only peripherally, but he was a fun character. Two of the characters are very talented, unpopular Jewish detectives that he hired, and their treatment is part of the story.

    But now I've been reminded that I want to read Kay Redfield Jamison's book Exuberance, which is about people with enormous drive, energy, and willpower, and how it's sort of the opposite of depression and comes with its own pitfalls. I'm pretty sure TR was one of her big case studies/examples. I've wanted to read it for a long time.

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    1. Wow, both of those sound like fantastic reads! I would be interested to see how racism plays into The Alienist, though Roosevelt isn't a main character.

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  5. That's too bad this cover is a bit misleading! I hate that...

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    1. Same! It happens all the time with non-fiction, I think, because of those titles...

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  6. It does sound like this book was a tad disappointing, and that's a shame, because it could have been so good! That cover leads you to believe that there is some real adventuresome and interesting stuff going on inside, but it sounds like this one might have been a little dry. Sorry to hear that :(

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  7. I'm glad to have read this before I pick up the book myself. Now I know more of what to expect and hopefully will be less disappointed than you were!

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  8. Information on the history of police forces quickly becomes too much for me -- modern day ones too. Stories about the history of Vice are way more interesting.

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  9. Maybe not for me but I enjoyed the review, where I learnt enough :)

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