Billy Bathgate by E.L. Doctorow [FIRST BOOK CLUB EDITION / 1989]

Billy Bathgate by E.L. Doctorow

FIRST BOOK CLUB EDITION [1989] RANDOM HOUSE

Full sized book club edition; identical to the first edition.

Hardcover with dust jacket.  Book itself looks and reads like new.  *Dust jacket has heavy creasing and a large sealed tear on upper back.  Front of dust looks great.  Perfect reading copy!

In 1930's New York, Billy Bathgate, a fifteen-year-old high-school dropout, has captured the attention of infamous gangster Dutch Schultz, who lures the boy into his world of racketeering. The product of an East Bronx upbringing by his half-crazy Irish Catholic mother, after his Jewish father left them long ago, Billy is captivated by the world of money, sex, and high society the charismatic Schultz has to offer. But it is also a world of extortion, brutality, and murder, where Billy finds himself involved in a dangerous affair with Schultz's girlfriend.Relive this story through the title character's driving narrative, a child's thoughts and feelings filtered through the sensibilities of an adult, and the result is E.L. Doctorow's most convincing and appealing portrayal of a young boy's life. Converging mythology and history, one of America's most admired authors has captured the romance of gangsters and criminal enterprise that continues to fascinate the American psyche today.