City of devils : a Shanghai noir
French, Paul, 1966-2018
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1930s Shanghai could give Chicago a run for its money. In the years before the Japanese invaded, the city was a haven for outlaws from all over the world: a place where pasts could be forgotten, fascism and communism outrun, names invented, fortunes made - and lost. 'Lucky' Jack Riley was the most notorious of those outlaws. An ex-Navy boxing champion, he escaped from prison in the States, spotted a craze for gambling and rose to become the Slot King of Shanghai. Ruler of the clubs in that day was 'Dapper' Joe Farren - a Jewish boy who fled Vienna's ghetto with a dream of dance halls. His chorus lines rivalled Ziegfeld's and his name was in lights above the city's biggest casino. In 1940 they bestrode the Shanghai Badlands like kings, while all around the Solitary Island was poverty, starvation and genocide. They thought they ruled Shanghai; but the city had other ideas.
Main title:
City of devils : a Shanghai noir / Paul French.
Author:
French, Paul, 1966-, author
Imprint:
London : riverrun, 2018.
Collation:
xiv, 299 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (black and white, and colour) ; 25 cm
ISBN:
9781787470330 (hbk)
Dewey class:
364.1060951132364.10609364.106
LC class:
HV6453
Local class:
364.106
Language:
English
BRN:
2235384