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Landrum Shettles was forging ahead on work similar to Edwards and Steptoe's, in New York, in quarters just as cramped as theirs, his odds against success just as long.
I don't understand the meaning of the last sentence...
In this context odds means chance of success and long odds means unliklihood of success. This expression comes from gambling, where the odds of winning a coin toss are 1 in 2 (even odds) and the odds of winning a lottery are 1 to 1 million (long odds).
odds against success 
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