King of the Jews

<p>Flamboyant mobster Arnold Rothstein was gambling and money. He was the inspiration for Meyer Wolfsheim in <em>The Great Gatsby</em> and Nathan Detroit in <em>Guys and Dolls</em>. It was rumored he masterminded the 1919 World Series fix. He was Mr. Broadway a king of corruption holding court from his private booth at Lindy's Restaurant.</p><p>In this lively sprawling biography the inimitable Nick Tosches -- one of the greatest living American writers (<em>Dallas Observer</em>) -- examines the myth and extraordinary legacy of Arnold Rothstein. It is an elegy to old New York that places an iconic larger-than-life criminal kingpin firmly at the center of nothing less than the history of the entire Western world.</p>