“Commodore understood that Atlantic City’s business owners would gladly sacrifice honest government for a profitable summer and he gave them what they wanted. He focused on infrastructure, building water and transportation systems that functioned well, and paving the streets. Louis Kuehnle, otherwise known as the “Commodore,” was soon running the town, but in a wise, if corrupt, manner. They performed the most personal of services and were entrusted with important responsibilities, but they were barred from restaurants, amusement piers, and booths were denied shopping privileges by most stores were admitted to hotels only as workers were segregated in clinics and hospitals and could only bathe in one section of the beach, but even then had to wait until after dark." They earned a respectable wage, could vote, and own property. Whites wanted nothing to do with them socially and soon the city was segregated into white and black ghettos. Soon there were four railroads delivering customers (in spite of swarms of green flies and mosquitoes that sometimes drove horses crazy - not to mention people.) To serve customers cheaply, labor costs had to be kept low, and poor southern blacks who had suffered as slaves and were then abused after Reconstruction was destroyed politically, migrated to Atlantic City to fill the jobs. But in order to compete with Cape May, summer playground of the rich, they tried to appeal to the working man so prices had to remain low. The land was bought up originally to develop a health spa, but then, in order to make it accessible a railroad was required to get people from New York and Philadelphia. The short history of Atlantic City presented at the beginning of the book is really quite interesting. Under “Nucky” Johnson, the “Commodore’s successor, anything nominally illegal elsewhere could be had in Atlantic City. Brothels and gambling flourished, but Prohibition really made Atlantic City famous and rich. Contrary to popular myth, Atlantic City was not a summer playground for the rich but rather a working class getaway that catered to every illicit whim. This is the book the HBO series used for its basis. So while there’s no Martin Scorsese-style violence, it’s an interesting history of a unique city. While the links between organized crime and the politicians is documented extensively, the book centers on the political corruption instead of gangland shenanigans. While the author spends plenty of time on the reign of political boss and part time racketeer Nucky Johnson, the inspiration for the Steve Buscemi’s character Nucky Thompson, and the way that the corrupt Republican machine built and ruled Atlantic City for decades, this is really a history and not a true crime book. However, anyone looking for an interesting history of Atlantic City from its humble beginnings of a second rate resort town through it’s glory days of as a popular destination point during Prohibition because of it’s total unwillingness to enforce anti-booze laws to it’s current state as a gambling town that is still plagued by urban decay would probably find this book interesting. If fans of the HBO series Boardwalk Empire read this hoping just for more stories about corrupt politicians, gangsters, bootlegging, sex, violence, and a disfigured hit man, they’re probably going to be disappointed. For more information about the HBO television series, or to order the book visit the Plexus Publishing, Inc. Here is proof positive that truth is stranger and more compelling than fiction. Boardwalk Empire is a colorful, irresistible history of a unique city and culture. Author Nelson Johnson traces AC from its humble beginnings as Jonathan Pitney s seaside health resort, through the notorious backroom politics and power struggles, to the city s astonishing rebirth as an entertainment and gambling mecca where just about anything goes. In Boardwalk Empire, Nucky Johnson, Louis the Commodore Kuehnle, Frank Hap Farley, and Atlantic City itself spring to life in all their garish splendor. This unique alliance reached full bloom in the person of Enoch Nucky Johnson the second of three bosses to head the Republican machine that dominated city politics and society. For the next 70 years, Atlantic City was dominated by a partnership comprised of local politicians and racketeers. By 1900, a political juggernaut, funded by payoffs from gambling rooms, bars, and brothels, was firmly entrenched. Success of the local economy was the only ideology, and critics and do-gooders weren t tolerated. The resort s singular purpose of providing a good time to its visitors whether lawful or not demanded a single mentality to rule the town. A bustling little city by the seashore, totally dependent upon money spent by tourists, Atlantic City s popularity rose in the early 20th century and peaked during Prohibition.
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