Reviews

“ Mr. Seligman couples a vivid narrative with fresh historical perspective as he recounts how two brotherhoods, each supposedly providing “protection” for immigrants, waged a war that bled the neighborhood, and each other. “

“ This wild ramble around Chinatown in its darkest days—when tongs, or gangs, warred for control of opium dens and illegal gambling rooms—is a colorful study of Tammany Hall-era Manhattan. “

“ The Tong Wars were as brutal as any that were dramatized in the Oscar-winning film, according to a new book. Seligman tells for the first time how the gangs of Chinatown were as brutal as their more famous Italian or Irish counterparts. “

In “ How a book about Chinatown made me remember my first New York date, “ Wei Tchou writes in the Paris Review that he spent much of the summer totally captivated by Tong Wars!

“This thoroughly researched and fascinating work is highly recommended for those interested in organized crime or the early history of New York's Chinatown.”

“The New York tong wars, as they were collectively known, would eventually claim countless lives while generating breathless accounts in the newspapers, inspiring Hollywood movies, and reinforcing threatening stereotypes of the Chinese in America. But until this summer’s publication of Tong Wars, there had never been a popular accounting of the full sweep of battles and skirmishes.“

“Seligman’s account focuses on New York City’s Chinatown between about 1880 and 1935. He groups the disputes into three major wars—chains of reprisals, in each case ended by a formal truce. He has done a great deal of research in court records and in the archives of long-forgotten New York newspapers. The result is a clear and systematic account of a long series of inherently opaque and confusing disputes.”

“His work is richly textured and avoids black-and-white judgments. The author dutifully follows the tit-for-tat wars between the two tongs over . . . three decades. In this entertaining book, Seligman ably demystifies the stereotypes in an age rife with discrimination and unchecked police abuse.”

“Historian Seligman ( The First Chinese American ) provides a definitive look at more than 30 years of violence in this fascinating and nuanced examination of Manhattan’s Chinatown . . . This is the best kind of true crime book: a solid social history as well as a gripping narrative of murder and revenge.”

“ Historian Scott D. Seligman offers an interesting and true tale about the Chinese gang wars in New York City from the 1890s through the 1930s. . . Tong Wars is a well-researched and well-written story that will interest crime aficionados, as well as those interested in American history. “

“This is propulsive narrative history. The depth of this research is remarkable . . . and results are delivered compellingly. A story about immigrants and their suffering that needed to be told.”

“At a time when the city government was notoriously corrupt, the tongs would act as middlemen between the vice dens and the police by exorbitantly taxing the former and paying off the latter. Competition between rival tongs became so fierce that there were hatchet fights in Chinatown's streets.”