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Article: Paris, London and New York: cities of the past
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- January 20, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2003 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Martin Scorsese's new film, Gangs of New York, is set in the most
important decades for New York, London and Paris - the 1840s to 1860s
- and it brilliantly portrays the period. In all three places, tidal
waves of immigrants overwhelmed municipal structures, engendering
teeming, intimidating chaos.
How this was overcome is the decisive event in their modern
histories. London and Paris drew surplus labour out of the
countryside. In New York, as the film reminds us, migrants arrived by
the boatload. The urban middle classes were at once terrified and
fascinated by the slums created in their midst. Five Points on the
Lower East Side of Manhattan, the subject of the film, was matched in
London ...