City of Devils
The Two Men Who Ruled the Underworld of Old Shanghai
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Narrated by:
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Paul Chan
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By:
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Paul French
About this listen
From Paul French, New York Times best-selling author of Midnight in Peking - winner of both the Edgar Award for best fact crime and the CWA Gold Dagger for nonfiction - comes a rags-to-riches tale of two self-made men set against a backdrop of crime and vice in the sprawling badlands of Shanghai. City of Devils is a dynamic audiobook that will captivate listeners everywhere.
Shanghai, 1930s; it was a haven for outlaws from all over the world: a place where pasts could be forgotten, fascism and communism outrun, names invented, and fortunes made - and lost. “Lucky” Jack Riley was the most notorious of those outlaws. An ex-US Navy boxing champion, he escaped from prison and rose to become the Slots King of Shanghai.
“Dapper” Joe Farren - a Jewish boy who fled Vienna’s ghetto - ruled the nightclubs. His chorus lines rivaled Ziegfeld’s. In 1940, Lucky Jack and Dapper Joe bestrode the Shanghai Badlands like kings while all around the Solitary Island was poverty, starvation, and war. They thought they ruled Shanghai, but the city had other ideas.
This is the story of their rise to power, their downfall, and the trail of destruction left in their wake. Shanghai was their playground for a flickering few years, a city where for a fleeting moment even the wildest dreams could come true.
©2018 Paul French (P)2018 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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1916: Norma Wallace, age 15, arrived in New Orleans. Sexy and shrewd, she quickly went from streetwalker to madam and by 1920 had opened what became a legendary house of prostitution. There she entertained a steady stream of governors, gangsters, and movie stars until she was arrested at last in 1962. Shortly before she died in 1974, she tape-recorded her memories. With those tapes and original research, Christine Wiltz chronicles Norma's rise and fall with the social history of New Orleans.
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pronunciations
- By lynda on 07-29-19
By: Christine Wiltz
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Detroit
- An American Autopsy
- By: Charlie LeDuff
- Narrated by: Eric Martin
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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In the heart of America, a metropolis is quietly destroying itself. Detroit, once the richest city in the nation, is now its poorest. Once the vanguard of America’s machine age - mass production, automobiles, and blue-collar jobs - Detroit is now America’s capital for unemployment, illiteracy, foreclosure, and dropouts. With the steel-eyed reportage that has become his trademark and the righteous indignation that only a native son can possess, journalist Charlie LeDuff sets out to uncover what has brought low this once-vibrant city, his city.
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WOW
- By Avid Reader and Listener on 07-09-13
By: Charlie LeDuff
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This is Not a Drill
- Just Another Glorious Day in the Oilfield
- By: Paul Carter
- Narrated by: Paul Carter
- Length: 4 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Picking up right where he left off, Paul Carter pulls out more tall tales of a mad, bad and dangerous life in the international oil trade. Starting with action and mayhem galore This Is Not A Drill sets an unrelenting pace that just doesn't let up, as Paul almost drowns when the Russian rig he's working on begins to capsize; is reunited with his Dad - another adrenaline junkie; gets married; hangs out with his rig pig buddies in exotic locations; and spends a couple of interesting weeks in Afghanistan.
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I want to party with this guy!
- By colleen on 05-06-14
By: Paul Carter
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Young Al Capone
- The Untold Story of Scarface in New York, 1899-1925
- By: William Balsamo, John Balsamo
- Narrated by: Daniel May
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Many people are familiar with the story of Al Capone, the legendary Chicago gangster best known for orchestrating the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. But few are aware that Capone’s remarkable story began in the Navy Yard section of Brooklyn, New York. Tutored by the likes of infamous mobsters Johnny Torrio and Frankie Yale, young Capone’s disquieting demeanor, combined with the “technical advice” he learned from these shady teachers, contributed to the molding of a brutal criminal....
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Is this fiction or non-fiction?
- By Gerry B. on 11-03-20
By: William Balsamo, and others
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Nine Lives
- Mystery, Magic, Death, and Life in New Orleans
- By: Dan Baum
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Nines Lives is a multivoiced biography of a dazzling, surreal, and imperiled city, told through the lives of nine unforgettable characters and bracketed by two epic storms: Hurricane Betsy, which transformed New Orleans in the 1960s, and Hurricane Katrina, which nearly destroyed it. Dan Baum brings this kaleidoscopic portrait to life, showing us what was lost in the storm and what remains to be saved.
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Do not miss if you're interested in New Orleans
- By Kelly on 03-22-18
By: Dan Baum
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All Things Must Fight to Live
- Stories of War and Deliverance in Congo
- By: Bryan Mealer
- Narrated by: Karl Miller
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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In All Things Must Fight to Live, Bryan Mealer takes listeners on a harrowing 2000 mile journey through Congo, where gun-toting militia still rape and kill with impunity. Amidst burnt-out battlefields where armies still wrestle for control, into the dark corners of the forests, and along the high savanna, where thousands have been slaughtered and quickly forgotten, Mealer searches for signs that Africa's most troubled state will soon rise from ruin.
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Outstanding story and narration
- By Cthulhu's slobber on 09-19-19
By: Bryan Mealer
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The Invaders Plan
- Mission Earth, Volume 1
- By: L. Ron Hubbard
- Narrated by: Full Cast
- Length: 3 hrs and 8 mins
- Abridged
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They are the Voltarians of Voltar - an empire 110 planets strong. They are already among us. And the invasion is about to begin...in a hundred years or so. Or is it? The truth is far more sinister. Undercover, underground, and out of sight, the invaders plan what may in fact be a massive diversion. In the darkest recesses of Voltar’s Coordinated Information Apparatus (otherwise known as the CIA), a tyrant of terror sets out to exploit the invasion in order to seize power. All that stands in his way is a planet that doesn’t exist.
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overly abridged
- By Pielle Szabo on 01-10-17
By: L. Ron Hubbard
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Way of the Wolf
- The Vampire Earth, Book 1
- By: E. E. Knight
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel, E. E. Knight (Introduction)
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Louisiana, 2065. A lot has changed in the 43rd year of the Kurian Order. Possessed of an unnatural and legendary hunger, the bloodthirsty Reapers have come to Earth to establish a New Order built on the harvesting of enslaved human souls. They rule the planet. They thrive on the scent of fear. And if it is night, as sure as darkness, they will come.
On this pitiless world, the indomitable spirit of mankind still breathes in Lieutenant David Valentine.
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Its what you expect, and thats not a bad thing.
- By Kevin McLaughlin on 11-26-08
By: E. E. Knight
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Cry Havoc
- By: Captain Simon Mann
- Narrated by: Captain Simon Mann
- Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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On March 7, 2004, former SAS soldier and mercenary Simon Mann prepared to take off from Harare International Airport. His destination was Equatorial Guinea; his intention was to remove one of the most brutal dictators in Africa in a privately organized coup d’état. The plot had the tacit approval of Western intelligence agencies, and Mann had already planned, overseen, and won two wars in Angola and Sierra Leone. So why did it go so wrong?
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Average
- By Miriam Majome on 08-23-15
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90 Church
- Inside America's Notorious First Narcotics Squad
- By: Agent Dean Unkefer
- Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 11 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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90 Church is both the unbelievable memoir of one man's confrontation with the dark corners of the human experience and a fascinating window into a little-known time in American history. Learn the story of the agents who make the DEA look like choirboys.
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AMAZING!!!
- By Nick on 03-22-16
What listeners say about City of Devils
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Harald
- 05-03-20
Captivating
This is very much a work of narrative history. the author takes a great many liberties as far as ascribing motives and mannerisms to the characters. This does raise some questions about which other liberties he has taken.
Nevertheless, if you are not too worried about the complete accuracy and if you are looking for an entertaining listen, this is your next audiobook. Shanghai of the 1920's and 30's is a fascinating place and for fans of pulp and noir, it checks all the boxes.
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- Michael Kolb, S.J.
- 10-11-18
Fascinating Story
Really a great book. It captures a strange and different world. The story moves well and the reading is clear and engaging.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Sean P
- 11-04-22
Good research and writing
Good choice to have multiple narrators but the main narrator did not know how to pronounce Chinese words.
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- thomas sesin
- 11-06-19
Great book
Loved the book, the details, story telling and inside view of shanghai during this wild time of vice, drugs and lawlessness.
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- Joshua White
- 03-26-20
Mesmerizing look at Old Shanghai
I have always loved Paul French's books on China, the only real author that I connect with as a historian and former ex-pat in Shanghai and Beijing. City of Devils. like his other books is a masterpiece of historical storytelling. The story is a heavily researched look into like in pre-war Shanghai. I enjoyed this book as much as I did Midnight in Peking.
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- Hector Fernandez
- 12-28-18
Vivid!
A time capsule to a time and place that will never be again. City of Devils perfectly captures the criminal underbelly of Shanghai of the 1920's and 30's.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Dane H.
- 12-08-23
One of my favorite books
"City of Devils" is pure, bardo-surfing fun that Paul French has conjured from the old rumors, legends, and truth of 1930s Shanghai, filled with crime, jazz, and doom.
Highly recommended, especially if one follows up with works of the same spirit, such as Kenneth Anger's, "Hollywood Babylon", and Alex Garland's, "The Beach". Outstanding and unforgettable.
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- Mr Dangerous
- 03-26-24
Thought this would be more engaging...
It was just okay. Maybe it was the writing or the narration. i wasn't fully connected to the whole thing.
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- Terrance D. Harps
- 07-26-18
Very hard to listen to
This was the most difficult book to listen to. The tempo was poor and the voice was a loud whisper. The story was jumpy
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6 people found this helpful