Warner Files: Asbury's flawed history

October 2016 contents.
Columns.

The Warner Files: 

History must be more than

the repetition of legend

by Richard N. Warner

"Lately I've been revisiting The Gangs of New York. Not the film, although the Martin Scorsese-directed film was enjoyable. My favorite character was Daniel Day-Lewis's 'Bill the Butcher' Cutting, the stove-pipe hat wearing nativist bully, and my favorite scene was the preamble to the fight between Cutting's Natives against the Dead Rabbits. Liam Neeson as the priest Vallon stands holding a cross and one gang after another lines up on his side. 'The O'Connell Guard!' 'The Shirt Tails!' 'The Chichesters!' 'The Forty Thieves!' Entertaining, yes. Accurate history, not so much..."

One and a half pages.

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