Honest Graft: The World of George Washington Plunkitt

This book presents the recorded conversations and commentary of George Washington Plunkitt, a Tammany Hall leader, in which he boasts about the ways political machines operate and defends what he calls 'honest graft'—profiting from inside knowledge of public projects—while contrasting it with outright corruption.

William L. Riordon compiled and edited Plunkitt's remarks into the form widely read today; later editions include scholarly introductions and notes that contextualize Plunkitt's views within urban political history.