Satan'S Circus: Murder, Vice, Police Corruption and New York's Trial of the Century - Tapa dura

Nearly ten million men and women have served the United States as police officers. Only one has been executed for murder. Mike Dash is a master of atmospheric and entertaining historical narrative. In "Satan's Circus" he vividly opens up the world of twentieth century New York, and tells the gripping story of Charley Becker's rise and fall, and the two sensational murder trials that led to his gruesome death in the electric chair. With a cast of colourful characters, from Big Tim Sullivan, the election-rigging vice lord, to future President Theodore Roosevelt and beloved gangster Jack Zelig, "Satan's Circus" brings to life an almost-forgotten Gotham - a raucous, gaudy and utterly corrupt city.

Mike Dash is the author of five previous books, including the bestsellers Tulipomania and Batavia's Graveyard and the recent Thug, also published by Granta. A Cambridge educated historian, he lives in London.