In the Land of Dollars: Three Years in New York (Nel paese dei dollari: Tre anni a New York)

An execution by hanging for a man driven insane in his cell by delays, a sumptuous costume ball on Fifth Avenue attended by 1,250 guests, barbers arrested for opening their shops on Sunday mornings, opium dens on the Lower East Side – this is the New York of the late 19th century, seen first-hand and described in this book by Adolfo Rossi, a journalist for the Italian-American newspaper Il Progresso. He details the three years he spent living and working in New York, the fascinating, and oftentimes humorous events he witnessed, the people, both famous and ordinary, that he met, and the social and political ideas he saw in practice in the America of the 1880’s. It is a story of monopolies and market crashes, the so-called blue laws, polygamy and religious revival, fantastic opulence and extreme poverty. It is also the story of the man himself, who comes to America with preconceived notions of this young republic and returns to Europe, his opinions and attitudes changed forever.