Scott D. Seligman is a historian, retired corporate executive, and career China hand, and he holds degrees from Princeton and Harvard. Fluent in Mandarin and conversant in Cantonese, he lived in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China and has worked as a legislative assistant in Congress, a businessman in China, and a communications director of a Fortune 50 company. He is the author of many scholarly and business books, including Chinese Business Etiquette and The First Chinese American. He has published articles in the Asian Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the Seattle Times, the China Business Review, the Jewish Daily Forward, China Heritage Quarterly, and the New York History and Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center blogs.
A "wild ramble around Chinatown in its darkest days." --The New
Yorker "One secretive chapter in New York's criminal
evolution...vivid."--The New York Times
"A mesmerizing and brutal look at the hidden world of Chinese
tongs." -Vice "Fascinating." The Paris Review
"Ably demystifies the stereotypes in an age rife with
discrimination and unchecked police abuse." -Kirkus Reviews "The
best kind of true crime book: a solid social history as well as a
gripping narrative of murder and revenge." -Publishers Weekly
Advance praise for TONG WARS "With Tong Wars, Seligman pulls back
the veil on thirty years of hidden history, revealing an amazing
cast of gangsters, crooked businessmen and corrupt lawmen that gave
rise to one of the most extraordinary eras in the underworld
history of the United States. This is not only a Chinese story; it
is an American story. The research is impeccable and the
storytelling light on its feet. Seligman pierces the nexus of
political, cultural and economic forces that are at the heart of
organized crime, making this essential reading for crime buffs,
historians and lovers of larger-than-life sagas about the American
experience. You may think you know the full story of organized
crime in America, but until you read this book - you don't."
--T.J. English, New York Times best-selling author of Where the
Bodies Were Buried and Havana Nocturne "A great book! Scott
Seligman is a riveting storyteller and he brings New York's
Chinatown gang wars of the early twentieth century back to life
with nuance and strikingly vivid detail."
--Tyler Anbinder, Author of Five Points: The 19th Century New York
City Neighborhood that Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections, and
Became the World's Most Notorious Slum "New York's early Chinatown
has been portrayed unfairly as an exaggerated Yellow Peril den of
mysterious Orientals. By diligently and expertly trawling the
evidence, however, Scott Seligman has unshrouded the mystery and
offered up the gripping story of the men of Chinatown's underworld
and their intramural battles over gambling, opium and other vices.
In Tong Wars, he has rescued a tough and hardscrabble immigrant
community from obscurity and offered a compelling new chapter in
New York's great story."
--Paul French, author of the New York Times bestselling Midnight in
Peking "Tong Wars pulls no punches. Seligman brings the skills of a
scholar and a detective to a story that plays out like a good
police procedural novel. This is lively material, and Seligman
deftly avoids the trap of simply cataloging the crimes of nameless,
faceless denizens herded into an Asian American ghetto. His
linguistic fluency and obvious comfort with primary Chinese
language sources allow him to assess the myths and the brutal
realities of the tong wars, and he has brought a daring and fresh
approach to an important American story."
--Sue Lee, executive director, Chinese Historical Society of
America "Seligman masterfully examines the undercurrents of 1925
New York Chinatown in an engrossing depiction of a complex time. By
shining a light on the power of association, the struggle for
power, and the desire to survive, Seligman gives 'face' to the
challenges of community-infighting, community-building, and
community-identity in a racist and exclusionary America."
--Nancy Yao Maasbach, President, Museum of Chinese in America
A mesmerizing and brutal look at the hidden world of Chinese tongs.
Vice
Ably demystifies the stereotypes in an age rife with discrimination
and unchecked police abuse. "Kirkus Reviews"
"The best kind of true crime book: a solid social history as well
as a gripping narrative of murder and revenge." Publishers
Weekly"
"Advance praise for TONG WARS
With Tong Wars, Seligman pulls back the veil on thirty years of
hidden history, revealing an amazing cast of gangsters, crooked
businessmen and corrupt lawmen that gave rise to one of the most
extraordinary eras in the underworld history of the United States.
This is not only a Chinese story; it is an American story. The
research is impeccable and the storytelling light on its feet.
Seligman pierces the nexus of political, cultural and economic
forces that are at the heart of organized crime, making this
essential reading for crime buffs, historians and lovers of
larger-than-life sagas about the American experience. You may think
you know the full story of organized crime in America, but until
you read this book you don t.
--T.J. English, New York Times best-selling author of "Where the
Bodies Were Buried" and "Havana Nocturne"
"A great book! Scott Seligman is a riveting storyteller and he
brings New York's Chinatown gang wars of the early twentieth
century back to life with nuance and strikingly vivid detail."
--Tyler Anbinder, Author of Five Points: The 19th Century New York
City Neighborhood that Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections, and
Became the World's Most Notorious Slum
New York s early Chinatown has been portrayed unfairly as an
exaggerated Yellow Peril den of mysterious Orientals. By diligently
and expertly trawling the evidence, however, Scott Seligman has
unshrouded the mystery and offered up the gripping story of the men
of Chinatown s underworld and their intramural battles over
gambling, opium and other vices. In Tong Wars, he has rescued a
tough and hardscrabble immigrant community from obscurity and
offered a compelling new chapter in New York s great story.
--Paul French, author of the New York Times bestselling Midnight in
Peking
Tong Wars pulls no punches. Seligman brings the skills of a scholar
and a detective to a story that plays out like a good police
procedural novel. This is lively material, and Seligman deftly
avoids the trap of simply cataloging the crimes of nameless,
faceless denizens herded into an Asian American ghetto. His
linguistic fluency and obvious comfort with primary Chinese
language sources allow him to assess the myths and the brutal
realities of the tong wars, and he has brought a daring and fresh
approach to an important American story.
Sue Lee, executive director, Chinese Historical Society of
America
Seligman masterfully examines the undercurrents of 1925 New York
Chinatown in an engrossing depiction of a complex time. By shining
a light on the power of association, the struggle for power, and
the desire to survive, Seligman gives 'face' to the challenges of
community-infighting, community-building, and community-identity in
a racist and exclusionary America.
--Nancy Yao Maasbach, President, Museum of Chinese in America
"
""
"The best kind of true crime book: a solid social history as well
as a gripping narrative of murder and revenge."
"--PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Advance praise for TONG WARS
With "Tong Wars," Seligman pulls back the veil on thirty years of
hidden history, revealing an amazing cast of gangsters, crooked
businessmen and corrupt lawmen that gave rise to one of the most
extraordinary eras in the underworld history of the United States.
This is not only a Chinese story; it is an American story. The
research is impeccable and the storytelling light on its feet.
Seligman pierces the nexus of political, cultural and economic
forces that are at the heart of organized crime, making this
essential reading for crime buffs, historians and lovers of
larger-than-life sagas about the American experience. You may think
you know the full story of organized crime in America, but until
you read this book you don t.
--T.J. English, New York Times best-selling author of "Where the
Bodies Were Buried" and "Havana Nocturne"
"A great book! Scott Seligman is a riveting storyteller and he
brings New York's Chinatown gang wars of the early twentieth
century back to life with nuance and strikingly vivid detail."
--Tyler Anbinder, Author of "Five Points: The 19th Century New York
City Neighborhood that Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections, and
Became the World's Most Notorious Slum
" New York s early Chinatown has been portrayed unfairly as an
exaggerated Yellow Peril den of mysterious Orientals. By diligently
and expertly trawling the evidence, however, Scott Seligman has
unshrouded the mystery and offered up the gripping story of the men
of Chinatown s underworld and their intramural battles over
gambling, opium and other vices. In "Tong Wars," he has rescued a
tough and hardscrabble immigrant community from obscurity and
offered a compelling new chapter in New York s great story.
--Paul French, author of the "New York Times" bestselling "Midnight
in Peking
" Tong Wars pulls no punches. Seligman brings the skills of a
scholar and a detective to a story that plays out like a good
police procedural novel. This is lively material, and Seligman
deftly avoids the trap of simply cataloging the crimes of nameless,
faceless denizens herded into an Asian American ghetto. His
linguistic fluency and obvious comfort with primary Chinese
language sources allow him to assess the myths and the brutal
realities of the tong wars, and he has brought a daring and fresh
approach to an important American story.
Sue Lee, executive director, Chinese Historical Society of
America
Seligman masterfully examines the undercurrents of 1925 New York
Chinatown in an engrossing depiction of a complex time. By shining
a light on the power of association, the struggle for power, and
the desire to survive, Seligman gives 'face' to the challenges of
community-infighting, community-building, and community-identity in
a racist and exclusionary America.
--Nancy Yao Maasbach, President, Museum of Chinese in America
""
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