King of the Bowery: Big Tim Sullivan, Tammany Hall, and New York City from the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era

by Richard F. Welch

The first full-length biography of Timothy D. “Big Tim” Sullivan, who dominated New York City politics in the three decades prior to World War I.

King of the Bowery is the first full-length biography of Timothy D. “Big Tim” Sullivan, the archetypal Tammany Hall leader who dominated New York City politics—and much of its social life—from 1890 to 1913. A poor Irish kid from the Five Points who rose through ambition, shrewdness, and charisma to become the most powerful single politician in New York, Sullivan was quick to perceive and embrace the shifting demographics of downtown New York, recruiting Jewish and Italian newcomers to his largely Irish machine to create one of the nation’s first multiethnic political organizations. Though a master of the personal, paternalistic, and corrupt politics of the late nineteenth century, Sullivan paradoxically embraced a variety of progressive causes, especially labor and women’s rights, anticipating many of the policies later pursued by his early acquaintances and sometimes antagonists Al Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Drawing extensively on contemporary sources, King of the Bowery offers a rich, readable, and authoritative portrayal of Gotham on the cusp of the modern age, as refracted through the life of a man who exemplified much of it.

“...a necessary book for anyone unsatisfied by the usual histories of Irish-American urban political machines ... The Irish American boss has rarely been awarded the careful appraisal of the kind that Welch ... gives Sullivan ... But caveat you don’t have to be Irish American or a New Yorker or a Democrat to enjoy this book. All you have to be is interested in a well-told story that is also a first-rate work of history.” — Peter Quinn, Commonweal

Genres: New York

222 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2008

Reviews

[Bob]

As a great-grandson of Mr. Sullivan, I was gratified to finally see a full length monograph. Sullivan left very few letters, no diaries and only a handful of public speeches to document his interesting life. Most of what we know about Big Tim comes from newspaper accounts during his era as well as embellished stories which have grown distorted over the generations.
There is very little new information contained in Mr. Welch's work. Most of it, as I previously noted, was garned from press accounts. The only real historical value of this worlk is that it saves the reader from having to scour newspaper archives to learn about Big Tim and his, often times, illegal activities.
On this basis, I would recommend it but consider the sources.

[John Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much harsher on Charlie Murphy, and even Robert Wagner than Terry Golway. Doesn’t really delve into the ethical , legal questions. A 3 star book but feeling kind.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Trying to make sense of Tammany-Sullivan clan politics is much like peering through a fogged over window. The players can be identified, their movements noted, but the voices are muffled, the gestures indecipherable, and the motives hidden."