High Lights, Low Lights, Tael Lights

First published in 1936, this remarkable guidebook explores the seamier side of Shanghai, China, in the mid-1930s. Written by two pretty, dissolute foreigners living life to the fullest and working, at least partially, in a Whangpoo whiskey haze, this candid handbook focuses on the colorful nightlife—particularly the sex and sin—of the city. This is a hilarious and unique history of a covert Shanghai.