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If you were rich (or if not rich, at least interesting), famous (or even better, infamous), and in legal trouble in Gilded Age New York, you usually called Howe and Hummel. This flamboyant and crooked law firm represented gangsters, showgirls, and murderers of all social stripes.
William F. Howe was an obese, outrageous showman who flaunted courtroom decorum and gave maudlin closing arguments that set many a guilty party free. Tiny, sombre Abraham Hummel was more restrained in court but equally ...more
William F. Howe was an obese, outrageous showman who flaunted courtroom decorum and gave maudlin closing arguments that set many a guilty party free. Tiny, sombre Abraham Hummel was more restrained in court but equally ...more
I'm sad this book has so little attention. Late 19/early 20th Century NYC history, mostly crime based. The writing is very breezy to a point where I was laughing just over the details that were swept up with a pithy phrase when relating a tale of a client, I guess the author thought the details weren't that entertaining. The book seems to care equally about the history and making sure it is a quick read. You never are able to really get inside the heads of any of the characters as it's mostly ba
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Dec 10, 2015
Maryann MJS1228
marked it as to-read
