Dale Cockrell

Being a delve into the world of lowlife NYC during the nineteenth century and the Ragtime Er.a, with emphases on its musical life and carnality. The author has done his work in the archives; I've been reading everything I could in this area for at least a quarter-century, and he was fleshing out my knowledge in a lot of important areas whilst entertaining me. I was a little less interested in, or convinced by, his attempts to quantify the number of sex workers and musicians working professionally in the city at given times on the basis of some rather speculative sources, but for researchers his numbers will be useful. It's a great look into a corner of Victoriana which doesn't make the history books that often.… (meer)