American Dictators ― Frank Hague, Nucky Johnson, and the Perfection of the Urban Political Machine

American Dictators is the dual biography of two legendary New Jersey political bosses: Frank Hague, who intimidated presidents and wielded unchallenged power for over three decades, and Enoch “Nucky” Johnson, the inspiration for the hit HBO series, Boardwalk Empire. Packed with compelling information and written in an informal, sometimes humorous style, the book shows Hague and Johnson at the peak of their power and the strength of their political machines during the years of Prohibition and the Great Depression.

STEVEN HART is a journalist and freelance writer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Salon. He is the author of The Last Three Miles: Politics, Murder, and the Construction of America’s First Superhighway and two novels. He has been a featured guest on National Public Radio’s On the Media and on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show and The Leonard Lopate Show.