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Palgrave Macmillan

Dangerous Strangers

Minority Newcomers and Criminal Violence in the Urban West, 1850-2000

  • Book
  • © 2005

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Authors:
  1. Kevin J. Mullen
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Table of contents (9 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xii
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  2. Introduction

    • Kevin J. Mullen
    Pages 1-12

  3. Australians

    • Kevin J. Mullen
    Pages 13-28

  4. Latinos

    • Kevin J. Mullen
    Pages 29-43

  5. Irish

    • Kevin J. Mullen
    Pages 45-61

  6. Chinese

    • Kevin J. Mullen
    Pages 63-81

  7. Italians

    • Kevin J. Mullen
    Pages 83-102

  8. African Americans

    • Kevin J. Mullen
    Pages 103-120

  9. Violent Rainbow

    • Kevin J. Mullen
    Pages 121-133

  10. Afterword

    • Kevin J. Mullen
    Pages 135-139

  11. Back Matter

    Pages 141-203
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Keywords

About this book

Have newcomers to American cities been responsible for a disproportionate amount of violent crime? Dangerous Strangers takes up this question by examining the incidence of criminal violence among several waves of immigrant/ethnic groups in San Francisco over 150 years. By looking at a variety of groups - Irish, German, Italian, and Chinese immigrants, primarily - and their different experiences at varying times in the city's history, this study addresses the issue of how much violence can be attributed to new groups' treatment by the host society and how much can be traced to traits found in their community of origin. Dangerous Strangers fills an acknowledged gap in the literature of homicide studies and broadens our understanding of newcomer violence.

Reviews

"Kevin Mullen brings a unique, ex-cop's perspective to the historical study of crime. He not only restores the police to an important place in determining why homicide rates go up and down, but brings the painstaking thoroughness of the best detective work to his analysis of hard-to-interpret statistics from the past." - Roger Lane, Haverford College.

"Kevin Mullen uses his meticulous reconstruction of San Francisco homicides and his broad knowledge of the history of American violence to tackle two big questions: Why were some eras and communities more deadly than others? And what did the cultures of urban immigrants have to do with the fluctuating levels of violence? In Dangerous Strangers, Mullen delivers forceful and insightful answers to both questions." - David Courtwright, author of Violent Land

"Ex-cop Kevin J. Mullen investigates 150 years of lethal mayhem in San Francisco, and what he uncovers in the history of the city's successive newcomers - Australian, Latino, Irish, Asian, Italian, African American - will no doubt prove as controversial as it is illuminating. Rigorously grounded and thoughtfully nuanced, Dangerous Strangers elevates the issue of urban homicide rates among America's immigrant subcultures to a new level of discourse." - Robert R. Dykstra, SUNY Albany

About the author

Kevin J. Mullen is retired deputy chief of the San Francisco Police Department. He is the author of Let Justice Be Done: Crime and Politics in Early San Francisco.

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