by Richard H. Dillon

 Richard Dillon, one of California's premier historians, tells the compelling story of San Francisco's exotic pre-1906 Chinatown when vicious hoodlum gangs held sway. Chinatown, as demonstrated by Dillon's fast-paced narrative, became a cauldron of chaos teeming with thugs, prostitutes, gamblers, and warlords preying on scores of helpless victims. The "Hatchet Men" is a classic of San Francisco history and brilliantly documents not only the infamous tong wars but also the heroic struggles of patient and industrious Chinese immigrants to free themselves from the vice grip of American racism and the terror of its own "Brotherhood of Blood."  

Paperback, 288 pages, $19.95