In the 1970s, Frank Lucas was the king of the Harlem drug trade, bringing in over a million dollars a day. He lived a glamorous life, hobnobbing with athletes, musicians, and politicians, but Lucas was a ruthless gangster. He was notorious for using the coffins of dead GIs to smuggle heroin into the United States and, before being sentenced to seventy years in prison, he played a major role in the near death of New York City.
In American Gangster, Mark Jacobson's captivating account of the life of Frank Lucas joins other tales of New York City from the past thirty years. The collection features a number of Jacobson's most famous essays, as well as previously unpublished works and more recent articles. Together, they create a vibrant, many-layered portrait of the most fascinating city in the world, by one of the most acclaimed journalists of our time.
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"It had some amazing stories and some ok ones. If you love New York then you will probably love it. It really gives you an idea of what it is like, especially the seedy side of NYC "
— Kelsey (4 out of 5 stars)
“Whether covering the high life or lowlifes, Jacobson boasts a novelistic eye and muscular prose in the tradition of urban chroniclers like Joseph Mitchell, A. J. Liebling, and Pete Hamill.”
— Entertainment Weekly" It had some amazing stories and some ok ones. If you love New York then you will probably love it. It really gives you an idea of what it is like, especially the seedy side of NYC "
— Kelsey, 2/28/2013" I dunno. This was okay. It had some good stories from back in the day and then it had some stories that were just blah blah blah. Mediocre book. "
— MelancholyDragon, 2/25/2013" It was a fast moving book. I thought it was a really good story, and I breezed through it. I really want to see this movie. "
— Robert, 6/28/2012" Interesting perspective from a columnist. Guy has a lot of good stories, and some are exceptionally well written... Some are really long winded. "
— Brody, 8/20/2011" A decent book for the coffee table or to read in 15min intervals as its a collection of short stories. "
— Mark, 7/15/2011" Interesting perspective from a columnist. Guy has a lot of good stories, and some are exceptionally well written... Some are really long winded. "
— Brody, 7/25/2009" It was a fast moving book. I thought it was a really good story, and I breezed through it. I really want to see this movie. "
— Robert, 2/19/2008Mark Jacobson has been a contributing editor to Rolling Stone, the Village Voice, Esquire, and New York. He is the author of 12,000 Miles in the Nick of Time: A Semi-Dysfunctional Family Circumnavigates the Globe; Teenage Hipster in the Modern World; and the novels Gojiro and Everyone and No One.
Malcolm Hillgartner is an accomplished actor, writer, and musician. Named an AudioFile Best Voice of 2013 and the recipient of several Earphones Awards, he has narrated over 250 audiobooks.