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Bugsy Siegel: The Dark Side of The American Dream w/Michael Shnayerson (5/18/21)

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https://www.amazon.com/Bugsy-Siegel-American-Dream-Jewish/dp/0300226195

The story of the notorious Jewish gangster who ascended from impoverished beginnings to the glittering Las Vegas strip "[A] brisk-reading chronicle of Siegel’s life and crimes."—Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal "Fast-paced and absorbing. . . . With a keen eye for the amusing, and humanizing detail, [Shnayerson] enlivens the traditional rise-and-fall narrative."—Jenna Weissman Joselit, New York Times Book Review In a brief life that led to a tragic end, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel (1906–1947) rose from desperate poverty to ill‑gotten riches, from an early‑twentieth‑century family of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants on the Lower East Side to a kingdom of his own making in Las Vegas. In this captivating portrait, author Michael Shnayerson sets out not to absolve Bugsy Siegel but rather to understand him in all his complexity. As World War II came to an end, Siegel saw the potential for a huge, elegant casino resort in the sands of Las Vegas. Then, one by one, they disappeared. Siegel’s story laces through a larger, generational story of eastern European Jewish immigrants in the early‑ to mid‑twentieth century. Michael Shnayerson, Vanity Fair writer, non-fiction author. "Boom" "Harry Belafonte My Song" "The Contender" "Coal River" "The Killers Within" "The Car That Could."  

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