Notes From the New York Underworld; Earthshaking Theory; The Jihadist Canon

The "flash" papers of 1840s New York knew their readership, and their readership knew what it wanted: sporting news, theater gossip, humor, and not a little pornography.

Denounced as offensive and obscene by their many detractors, the weeklies self-right-eously purported to expose the city's seedy underbelly by reveling in scandal. Although immensely popular, they were not a durable commodity, so it wasn't until 1985, when the American Antiquarian Society acquired nearly 100 issues,

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