This splendid book with exquisite illustrations had been long out of print, but was reissued in June, 2009. Written in 1898 by journalist Louis J. Beck, it gives one of the first "inside" views of Chinatown. Of course it is anything but an insider's view and Beck readily accepts and promotes the prejudices of his day.

He conjures a colorful portrait of Chinatown, chock a block with opium addicts, tong wars, gambling, Chinese children sold into slavery, reckless highbinders, Joss worship, prostitution, and weird customs. When Beck seeks to portray the positive aspects of life in Chinatown, he teeters between genuine empathy and patronizing condescension: "it will be found that these Chinamen are a frugal, industrious, docile, honest class of people, practicing many virtues which should commend them and which might be well emulated by their detractors."

The neighborhood of Mott, Pell, and Doyers Streets was not referred to as "Chinatown" until 1880 and Beck's book was published only 18 years later. Whatever you may think about Beck's attitudes towards his subject, his book is an unequaled history of the early days of New York's Chinese community. ( )