Introduction: Requiem for the City
Ch. 1. New York and the Global Market
Ch. 2. Jazz Joints and Junk
Ch. 3. The Plague
Ch. 4. The Panic over Adolescent Heroin Use
Ch. 5. Ethnicity and the Market
Ch. 6. The Rising Tide
Ch. 7. Dealing with Dope
Ch. 8. Heroin Suburbanizes
Ch. 9. The War and the War at Home
Ch. 10. From the Golden Spike to the Glass Pipe
Conclusion: Heroin Markers Redux
Notes
Index
Eric C. Schneider is Adjunct Associate Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Vampires, Dragons, and Egyptian Kings: Youth Gangs in Postwar New York.
"Since the end of World War II, American cities have been home
to illicit drug markets where heroin has been among the most
widely-sold products. Smack is Eric Schneider's masterful
explanation of how heroin entered America's cities, who used it,
what happened as a result and how obtuse public policy and naked
corruption not only failed to check its distribution but sometimes
even contributed to its spread. Schneider exposes the deep
misconceptions underlying the nation's futile war on drugs and
offers sane and realistic alternatives that, historic experience
suggests, could work, if only public authorities have the courage
and will."-Michael Katz, author of The Price of Citizenship:
Redefining the American Welfare State
"Schneider's absorbing history of heroin's proliferation in
America draws a parallel between the evolution and decline of
American cities and the rise of heroin use. Rather than treating
the city as a "backdrop," Schneider interprets cities as 'the
organizers of the world opium market,' and meticulously traces
heroin's ascendancy from early 20th century opium dens to the 1920s
jazz milieu and into the suburbs of the late 20th century when
heroin finally attracted the attention of the mainstream
media."-Publisher's Weekly
"A thoughtful, measured, and eminently readable study of that
illuminating place where urban and medical history meet the study
of media and policymaking. Schneider's book will not only be
relevant to academics, but to any general reader concerned with the
challenging world of crime and social policy. The author's tone of
lucid clarity is particularly welcome in an area marked by polemic
and predictable advocacy."-Charles Rosenberg, author of The Care of
Strangers: The Rise of America's Hospital System
"A sympathetic, engaging, and highly readable antidote to the
war-on-drugs-style morality tale. At times the book reads like the
award-winning and controversial HBO television series The Wire. . .
. Schneider draws his audience into a colorful narrative complete
with larger-than-life characters, heart-tugging tragedies, and
triumphant victories that complicate a more simplistic rendering of
what constitutes right and wrong, legal and illegal, or mainstream
and black market. He effectively humanizes the issue with testimony
from users, dealers, traffickers, police, politicians, and
educators to show how all parties in this conflict have struggled
to bring justice and security to their communities."-American
Historical Review
"Deeply researched and briskly written, with rare photographs
and biographical vignettes to keep the narrative moving along,
Smack . . . is a triumph of imaginative historical scholarship,
though a bittersweet one, written by someone in obvious mourning
for the drug-accelerated decline of America's great
cities."-Addiction
"Schneider has produced that rarest of academic commodities-a page-turner. The book is exceedingly well written, and its fascinating research and analysis are sure to make it a central text in the field."-Journal of American History
![]() |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
![]() |