Nine hundred feet below the pavement, Owney Morrison works on a tunnel that will bring water to millions of New York City taps. Drill, blast, drill, blast, 45 ft. a day, 225 ft. a week. The job will take years and men's lives. Some will get careless and fall down shafts; others will be blown up when they stick their drills into holes containing unexploded charges. Most will succumb to what can euphemistically be called the sandhog's life-style, a grimy regimen that scorns the world of paper pushers and blots out feelings with alcohol.
Booze is the thematic undercurrent of Jimmy...