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Author: James C. Nicholson
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 081316754X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 208
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Book Description
An Irish immigrant, a collection agent for crime bosses, a professional boxer, and a prodigious gambler, John Morrissey was -- if nothing else -- an unlikely candidate to become one of the most important figures in the history of Thoroughbred racing. As a young man, he worked as a political heavy in New York before going to San Francisco in search of fortune at the height of the Gold Rush. After returning to the east coast, he was hired by Tammany Hall and was soon locked in a deadly rivalry with William Poole, better known as "Bill the Butcher." As time went on, Morrissey parlayed his youthful exploits into a remarkably successful career as a businessman and politician. After establishing a gambling house in Saratoga Springs, the hard-nosed entrepreneur organized the first Thoroughbred race meet at what would become Saratoga Race Course in 1863. Morrissey went on to be elected to two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and two terms in the New York State Senate. In The Notorious John Morrissey, James C. Nicholson explores the improbable life of the man who brought Thoroughbred racing back to prominence in the United States. Though few of his contemporaries did more to develop the commercialization of sports in America, Morrissey's colorful background has prevented him from getting the attention he deserves. This entertaining and long-overdue biography finally does justice to his astounding rags-to-riches story while exploring an intriguing chapter in the history of horse racing.
Author: James C. Nicholson
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 081316754X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 208
Get Book Here
Book Description
An Irish immigrant, a collection agent for crime bosses, a professional boxer, and a prodigious gambler, John Morrissey was -- if nothing else -- an unlikely candidate to become one of the most important figures in the history of Thoroughbred racing. As a young man, he worked as a political heavy in New York before going to San Francisco in search of fortune at the height of the Gold Rush. After returning to the east coast, he was hired by Tammany Hall and was soon locked in a deadly rivalry with William Poole, better known as "Bill the Butcher." As time went on, Morrissey parlayed his youthful exploits into a remarkably successful career as a businessman and politician. After establishing a gambling house in Saratoga Springs, the hard-nosed entrepreneur organized the first Thoroughbred race meet at what would become Saratoga Race Course in 1863. Morrissey went on to be elected to two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and two terms in the New York State Senate. In The Notorious John Morrissey, James C. Nicholson explores the improbable life of the man who brought Thoroughbred racing back to prominence in the United States. Though few of his contemporaries did more to develop the commercialization of sports in America, Morrissey's colorful background has prevented him from getting the attention he deserves. This entertaining and long-overdue biography finally does justice to his astounding rags-to-riches story while exploring an intriguing chapter in the history of horse racing.
Author: James C. Nicholson
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 0813167523
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 209
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Book Description
An Irish immigrant, a collection agent for crime bosses, a professional boxer, and a prolific gambler, John Morrissey was—if nothing else—an unlikely candidate to become one of the most important figures in the history of Thoroughbred racing. As a young man, he worked as a political heavy in New York before going to San Francisco in search of fortune at the height of the Gold Rush. After returning to the east coast, he was hired by Tammany Hall and was soon locked in a deadly rivalry with William Poole, better known as "Bill the Butcher." As time went on, Morrissey parlayed his youthful exploits into a remarkably successful career as a businessman and politician. After establishing a gambling house in Saratoga Springs, the hardnosed entrepreneur organized the first Thoroughbred race meet at what would become Saratoga Race Course in 1863. Morrissey went on to be elected to two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and two terms in the New York State Senate. In this book, James C. Nicholson explores the improbable life of the man who brought Thoroughbred racing back to prominence in the United States. Though few of his contemporaries did more to develop the commercialization of sports in America, Morrissey's colorful background has prevented him from getting the attention he deserves. This entertaining and long-overdue biography finally does justice to his astounding rags-to-riches story while exploring an intriguing chapter in the history of horse racing.
Author: Mike Davis
Publisher: Haymarket Books
ISBN: 1608460010
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 315
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Book Description
The social critic and Set the Night on Fire co-author tackles the fashion for empires and white men’s burdens in this 2007 collection of radical essays. With In Praise of Barbarians, Mike Davis skewers contemporary idols such as Mel Gibson, Niall Ferguson, and Howard Dean; unlocks some secret doors in the Pentagon and the California prison system; visits Star Wars in the Arctic and vigilantes on the border; predicts ethnic cleansing in New Orleans more than a year before Katrina; recalls the anarchist avengers of the 1890s and “teeny-bopper” riots on the Sunset Strip in the 1960s; discusses the moral bankruptcy of the Democrats in Kansas and West Virginia; remembers “Private Ivan,” who defeated fascism; and looks at the future of capitalism from the top of Hubbert’s Peak. No writer in the United States today brings together analysis and history as comprehensively and elegantly as Mike Davis. In these contemporary, interventionist essays, Davis goes beyond critique to offer real solutions and concrete possibilities for change. Praise for Mike Davis “Davis remains our penman of lost souls and lost scenarios: He culls nuggets of avarice and depredation the way miners chisel coal.” —The Nation “A rare combination of an author, Rachel Carson and Upton Sinclair all in one.” —Susan Faludi, author of Backlash “Davis’ work is the cruel and perpetual folly of the ruling elites.” —New York Times
Author: Herbert Asbury
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 444
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Book Description
Author:
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 9781560252757
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 366
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Book Description
Examines New York's gangs of the nineteenth century and charts their influence on the underworld in the twentieth century.
Author: Kimberly Gatto
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1614236488
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224
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Book Description
In the early 1800s, Saratoga Springs was mostly a tourist destination because of its natural mineral waters and their healing powers. But that changed in 1863 with the opening of the Saratoga Race Course. From then on, summers in the Spa City came alive with the excitement of the "sport of kings." Since the victory of the great horse Kentucky in the introductory Travers Stakes, the racecourse has showcased the sport's greatest champions. Otherwise seemingly uncatchable thoroughbreds--including Man o' War and Secretariat--faced unexpected defeat on its turf, earning Saratoga the nickname the "Graveyard of Champions." Author Kimberly Gatto chronicles the story of the oldest thoroughbred racetrack in the country, with tales of the famous people and horses that contributed to its illustrious history.
Author: Kenneth Bridgham
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781949783025
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
In 1855, New York City was scandalized by one of the most infamous murders in its history, that of gang leader Bill "the Butcher" Poole, the feared knife-fighter who later would inspire Daniel Day-Lewis's character in Martin Scorsese's film The Gangs of New York. The acknowledged mastermind in the Butcher's undoing was John Morrissey, a two-fisted Irish immigrant who, more than any other man of the age, represented the nefarious links between organized crime, politics, sports, and high finance in America. The loose inspiration behind Leonardo DiCaprio's character in The Gangs of New York, he was an undefeated bareknuckle prize-fighter, widely recognized as the national champion, as well as a feared gangster and mob boss before either term was coined, rumored leader of the Dead Rabbits street gang, and eventually U.S. Congressman and member of the New York state senate. He became the millionaire operator of some of the world's most opulent gambling halls, and was the founder of the Saratoga thoroughbred racecourse. Equally comfortable hobnobbing with pimps, cut-throats, and thieves as he was with Presidents Lincoln, Johnson, and Grant, or railroad tycoons like Cornelius Vanderbilt, the once impoverished street kid rose to a level of wealth and power unprecedented for Irish Americans to that point in the nation's history.The culmination of eight years of research, The Life and Crimes of John Morrissey is the most in-depth biography ever published about one of the nineteenth century's most notorious men. Drawing from the original newspaper accounts, as well as the memoirs of men who knew him, this is the true tale of gang wars and bloody riots in the notorious Five Points slum, a high-seas mutiny near Panama, bare-knuckle brawls in Canada and California, neck-and-neck horse races in Saratoga, million-dollar wagers on Wall Street, and back-room deals in Washington D.C. that encompass the short but daring life of John Morrissey.
Author: Steven A. Riess
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
ISBN: 0815651546
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 476
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Book Description
Thoroughbred racing was one of the first major sports in early America. Horse racing thrived because it was a high-status sport that attracted the interest of both old and new money. It grew because spectators enjoyed the pageantry, the exciting races, and, most of all, the gambling. As the sport became a national industry, the New York metropolitan area, along with the resort towns of Saratoga Springs (New York) and Long Branch (New Jersey), remained at the center of horse racing with the most outstanding race courses, the largest purses, and the finest thoroughbreds. Riess narrates the history of horse racing, detailing how and why New York became the national capital of the sport from the mid-1860s until the early twentieth century. The sport’s survival depended upon the racetrack being the nexus between politicians and organized crime. The powerful alliance between urban machine politics and track owners enabled racing in New York to flourish. Gambling, the heart of racing’s appeal, made the sport morally suspect. Yet democratic politicians protected the sport, helping to establish the State Racing Commission, the first state agency to regulate sport in the United States. At the same time, racetracks became a key connection between the underworld and Tammany Hall, enabling illegal poolrooms and off-course bookies to operate. Organized crime worked in close cooperation with machine politicians and local police officers to protect these illegal operations. In The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime, Riess fills a long-neglected gap in sports history, offering a richly detailed and fascinating chronicle of thoroughbred racing’s heyday.
Author: Brien Bouyea
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 143965624X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 136
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Book Description
Chronicling the incomparable life of boxing and Saratoga Race Course legend John Morrissey. John "Old Smoke" Morrissey was one of the most dynamic characters of his time. He went from a career as an undefeated bare-knuckle boxer, founded the Saratoga Race Course and eventually won elections to Congress and the New York State Senate. A poor, uneducated Irish immigrant, Morrissey became a leader in the Dead Rabbits street gang. He won fame as a fighter and fortune as the operator of a string of successful gambling houses. Morrissey then took Saratoga Springs by storm, improbably resurrecting thoroughbred racing during the Civil War and opening his famous Club House, which was the most glamorous casino the country had ever seen. Author and National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame director of communications Brien Bouyea takes you on this fascinating journey and shows just how Morrissey did it all.
Author: Martin Cobbett
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Sports
Languages : en
Pages : 398
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Book Description
