What happens when western anthropologists descend on the Amazon and make one of the last unacculturated tribes in existence, the Yanomami, the most exhaustively filmed and studied tribe on the planet? Despite their "do no harm" creed and scientific aims, the small army of anthropologists that has studied the Yanomami since the 1960s has wreaked havoc among the tribe – and sparked a war within the anthropology community itself.

This brief look at mid nineteenth century New York City, a period of mass immigration, street gangs, political corruption, and the worst civilian insurrection in the country's history, lends insight into the inspiration for Martin Scorsese's new movie, Gangs of New York.