Web of the City

infobox Book |
name = Web of the City
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Harlan Ellison
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Novel
publisher = Pyramid Books
release_date = 1958
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pages = 216 pp
isbn = ISBN 0441877184
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Web of the City" (originally published as "Rumble") is the first novel written by author Harlan Ellison. The novel follows the story of Rusty Santoro, a teenage member of the fictional Cougars street gang in the 1950s Brooklyn, New York. In order to research the book, Ellison spent time in an actual street gang in Brooklyn.

Background

In 1957, Harlan Ellison decided to research and write a novel about the teenage street gangs of Brooklyn. Before writing the novel, Ellison became a member of the Brooklyn gang "The Barons" under an assumed name. The gang's territory was in Red Hook, considered to be one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Brooklyn. He acted as war counselor for the gang for ten weeks before leaving.

After leaving the street gang, Ellison went to the Ranger Basic Training camp in Fort Benning, Georgia to begin his military service. The bulk of the novel was written during his spare time at the camp between the middle of 1956 to March 1957. The book was originally bought by Walter Fultz, an editor at the small independent publishing company Lion Books. The company went out of business before it could publish "Web of the City", so the book was sold to Pyramid Books. Pyramid changed the name to "Rumble" and published it in 1958 while Ellison was a Private in the army.

Plot summary

The plot revolves around the character of Rusty Santoro, a member of a fictional Brooklyn gang. In the novel, Santoro is caught between his meager prospects in the neighborhood, and obligations to his gang "The Cougars". Throughout the book he struggles with the prospect of leaving his neighborhood and his life behind. The novel depicts street fights, murders, and other realities of gang life in urban areas.