King of the Jews: The Greatest Mob Story Never Told Paperback – April 25, 2006

A part fictional hard look at the history of organised crime through the device of Arnold Rothstein - who invented it. Tosches weaves fact and fiction, and builds context and atmosphere by weaving Judeao Christian mythology throughout. In my opinion aside from George Pelecanos, Tosches might be the finest American writer today.

I am a fan fanatic when it comes to the work of Nick Tosches , and having read "In the Hand of Dante ', and then "Where Dead Voices Gather" , I am convinced Tosches is a genius. I am still in the process of buying up all that he has written. Having lit the candles and incense at the Tosches altar , I must admit that after reading "King of the Jews" in two days I was disappointed. This time he was not able to spin the magic as he did in "Trinities" and "Cut Numbers" , which I consider his masterpieces to date. I will still buy everything he writes and hope to meet him for dinner at some future date before we get much older.

you like nick or not !for is flaw or for is quality !nick is absolutly fascinating !for is melting between fashion and old fashion .that set !buy it !

I love Nick Tosches... but this one got away from him. I don't mind riffs and I kind of expect ole' Nick to stray. But I tossed this sucker the fifteenth time I had to wade through a deep study of old testament references and three pages of lineages. Give it a rest. I want to read about the mob. By the time the story kicked in, I was up for a shave and my wine had aged in its glass.

If I had his number I would call Nick and ask for my money back. He truly wrote nothing worth reading, in an unorganized and impossible to follow storyline. With such a great subject, Tosches truly dropped the ball. If I could I'd give him no stars. Do not buy this.

Good read!

I found this book in the "Judaica" section of a large urban bookstore, and was surprised it had not been filed under "true crime." Once I began reading, however, the extent of Tosches' research into Semitic languages and ancient religion greatly impressed and pleased me. He imaginatively interweaves the story of an American-Jewish gangster with that of Rothstein's cultural heritage. The writing style is eclectic, daring and masterful. Recommended for anyone interested in crime (truth or fiction), the early 20th century US, and/or Jewish studies.

I like Nick Tosches' thinking and writing immensly, but he keeps picking subject matter that restricts him somewhat. This latest book is a good example. There isn't really all that much good source material on the subject of this bio. Everyone who knew the subject is pretty much dead. There's not a big paper trail on Rothstein's life, for that matter either. And the subject of this book was a gangster. I don't like gangsters. I'm not particularly interested in who they are, what they do, or books that glamorize them. Occasionally I'll read a gangster book, but it is more out of duty than pleasure. At one point in this bio, Nick asks, why only 30,000 people buy each of his books? The answer is that he writes about people or things that this generation doesn't care about! The people who are mostly reading his books are only reading them because they like Nick. In general, his subject matter often sucks. Nick keeps writing about and glamorizing people who don't deserve his verbiage. The big exception is Dean Martin--and I bet that book sold well over a hundred thousand copies and made Nick a small mint. (I love Nick's magazine writing, where he drops his tough guy persona and lets his hair down and has fun. Like once he wrote beautifully about a Roman coin he has. When is the Nick Tosches reader volume 2 coming out?) Nick, write a book about Mozart or Einstein or Walt Disney or anybody, but the relatively obscure parade you've been writing about this last decade. There's some odd almost irritating writing in this "King" book as well. Like Nick declares that F.Scott Fitzberald was a bad writer. F. Scott Fizgerald will have his books in print, long after the last of Nick's books can only be found in used bookstores. F. Scott wrote stories for young and romantic dreamers and idiots. Of course a lot of Fitzgerald's passages (like Hermann Hesse's) seem silly, stupid and naive, when you read them in post adolesence, but Fitzgerald will always be a wonderful narcotic for young dreamers and fools in love. It's not bad writing--it's just not an old man's cup of tea. Also irritating is Nick's repeated, "trust me" declarations. You can almost hear Don Corleone say it in a raspy whisper. "You can trust only me!" Nick? I don't get you. Here you are, frequently glamorizing gangsters, the seedy life, the immoral, the con, the guys who fleece the "chumps and the suckers," and you've written a biography of Jerry Lee Lewis, never addressing the fact that he may have killed at least one of his wives, and I'm supposed to trust old uncle Nicky? Yeah, sure.

as wild a ride as ever with Mr Tosches

Very disappointing. It starts as a strange biography, done in an extremely digressive way, and one therefore one wonders whether the author can keep approaching the biography of a Jewish gangster by starting with, actually very interesting, digressions about the origins of Judaism.The answer is unfortunately no. It is a very frustrating book, where Tosches tries, too hard, to be arch and mysterious and ominous, and where he ends up being merely aggravating.

I was thrilled to see this book. Rothstein, despite being considered the Founding Father of Organised Crime, has only two biographies devoted to him - the 60 year old (but still excellent) "The Big Bankroll" by Leo Katcher and Jack Pietruszka's "Rothstein" from 2005. Another biog for this character was a welcome addition to my collection...until I started to read it.Sadly it has little to do with Arnold Rothstein and reads unlike any biography I have ever read before.Rambling, self indulgent nonsense. At one point a sketch of pseudo-religious symbols.Almost like the author had stayed awake for 5 nights using amphetamines, pouring the contents of his sleep deprived mind onto notebook after notebook.After my initial confusion died down I felt anger at Rothsteins name being used to fool people into buying total rubbish.Worthless.