[King of the Gypsies, a] violent and shocking book about the sixty-odd American gypsy clans could do much to rehabilitate our native ones by throwing up comforting comparisons. The murderous and tyrannical "King" Tene Bimbo, whose obese and squalid figure overshadows the whole scene, is about the most odious character any writer could choose for a subject. And yet it can be said that such gypsies, any gypsies, are largely what Western society has made them. Through the ages the persecutions and killings have been appalling, not even stopping with the murder of half a million gypsies tricked into Hitler's gas chambers by the promise of relief….

King of the Gypsies comes across as the story of a cruel, hated, and seemingly hateful American minority; though I am not entirely sure that this is what the author intended, and some personal knowledge of gypsies in this country inclines...