Synopses & Reviews
In 1933, police jurisdictions ended at state lines, the FBI was in its infancy, the highway system was spreading, fast cars and machine guns were easily available, and a good number of the thirteen million Americans who were out of work blamed the Great Depression on the banks. In short, it was a wonderful time to be a bank robber. On hand to take full advantage was a motley assortment of criminal masterminds, sociopaths, romantics, and cretins, some of whom, with a little help from J. Edgar Hoover, were to become some of the most famous criminals in American history. Bryan Burrough's grandfather once set up roadblocks in Alma, Arkansas, to capture Bonnie and Clyde. He didn't catch them. Burrough was suckled on stories of the crime wave, and now, after years of work, he succeeds where his grandfather failed, capturing the stories of Bonnie and Clyde, Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and the rest of the FBI's nemeses, weaving them into a single enthralling account. For more than forty years, the great John Toland's Dillinger Days has stood as the only book that provides the entire big picture of this fabled moment in American history. But an extraordinary amount of new material has come to light during those forty years, a good deal of it unearthed by Burrough in the course of his own research, and Public Enemies reveals the extent to which Toland and others were fed the story the FBI wanted them to tell. The circles in which the public enemies moved overlapped in countless fascinating ways, large and small, as Burrough details. The actual connections are one thing; but quite another is the sense of connectedness Hoover created in the American public's mind for his own purposes. Using thetools of an increasingly powerful mass media, Hoover waged an unprecedented propaganda campaign, working the press, creating America's Most Wanted list, and marketing the mystique of the heroic G-men that successfully obscured an appalling catalog of professional ineptitude. When the FBI gunned down John Dillinger outside a Chicago movie theater in the summer of 1934, Hoover's ascent to unchecked power was largely complete. Both a hugely satisfying entertainment and a groundbreaking work with powerful echoes in today's news, Public Enemies is the definitive history of America's first War on Crime.
Review
"Brims with vivid portraiture ... Excellent true crime." and#151;
The New York Times Book Review "An amazingly detailed true-life thriller..." and#151;Entertainment Weekly
"It is hard to imagine a more careful, complete and entrancing book on the subject, and on this era." and#151;The Washington Post
"and#91;Aand#93; riveting true-crime tale... Fascinating... The real story, it turns out, is much better than the Hollywood version." and#151;The Wall Street Journal
"Spellbinding... A model of narrative journalism and and#91;aand#93; gripping read." and#151;BusinessWeek
Review
A Best Books of 2014 Selection, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
and#8220;This is rip-roaring stuff, and Mr. Perry tells it with gusto.and#8221;
and#8212;The Wall Street Journal
and#8220;Perry paints a riveting portrait of the real man behind the Untouchables iconand#8230; Itand#8217;s a tragic true story more engrossing than the myth.and#8221;
and#8212;Parade Magazine
and#8220;[A] new and invaluable biographyand#8230; [Perry] does justice to his subject, a complicated and self-destructive human being, but one who was also admired by many. He is a tragic rather than heroic figure, and Perry nails him with style and compassion.and#8221;
and#8212;The Chicago Tribune
and#8220;Perry has spun a riveting tale.and#8221;and#160;
and#8212;The Washington Post
and#8220;Perry takes plenty of detours beyond Ness's work history, exploring fascinating topics like an infamous Cleveland serial killer case, the evolution of law enforcement tactics, and the ever-present enticements wooing less-than-holy Chicago-area cops. But he doesn't need to wander afield when it comes to the dangerous missions by the "Untouchables" squad in Chicago: The action scenes are positively cinematicand#8230; Smart, authoritative, and bristling with challenges to the status quo: [Eliot Ness] has more than a little in common with its remarkable subject.and#8221;
and#8212;The Christian Science Monitor
and#8220;[A] new and invaluable biographyand#8230; [Perry] does justice to his subject, a complicated and self-destructive human being, but one who was also admired by many. He is a tragic rather than heroic figure, and Perry nails him with style and compassion.and#8221;
and#8212;The Chicago Tribune
and#8220;Donand#8217;t believe what youand#8217;ve seen in the movies. The true story of Eliot Ness is better than the Hollywood version, and Douglas Perry tells it brilliantly, with hard-nosed reporting and graceful prose. This book is so good even Al Capone would have enjoyed it, though perhaps grudgingly.and#8221;
and#8212;Jonathan Eig, author of Get Capone: The Secret Plot That Captured Americaand#8217;s Most Wanted Gangster
and#160;
and#8220;Douglas Perry is telling three stories here, those of Eliot Ness, of criminal empires, and of America, each done with equal grace and skill. His superb research is matched by his understanding of Ness as a microcosm of these larger tales, and he recreates a man and a slice of American history with marvelous results. A truly remarkable book.and#8221;
and#8212;Michael Koryta, New York Times Bestselling author of The Prophet and#160;
and#160;
and#8220;Thereand#8217;s so much more to the complex life and career of Eliot Ness than the Untouchables and Al Capone, and now we finally have the whole fascinating story. Douglas Perry proves that well-researched truth always trumps one-dimensional mythology, especially when presented by a gifted storyteller. Eliot Ness is that rarity and#8211; an authentic page-turner.and#8221;
and#8212;Jeff Guinn, author of Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson
and#160;
and#8220;In this true crime page turner, Douglas Perry cuts through the myths surrounding the legendary lawman to reveal a figure far more flawed, complexand#8212;and fascinatingand#8212;than the squeaky-clean do-gooder of and#8220;Untouchablesand#8221; fame.and#160; Readersand#160;will be riveted by Perryand#8217;s gripping account of Nessand#8217;s post-Chicago career, where, among other adventures, he found himself on the trail of one of Americaand#8217;s most savage serial murderers, the maniac known as the Cleveland Torso Killer.and#8221;
and#8212;Harold Schechter, author of The Mad Sculptor: The Maniac, the Model, and the Murder that Shook the Nation
and#160;
and#8220;Finally, you can forget the over-dramatized accountsand#160;and Hollywood-hyped film portrayals of the past, and read Douglas Perryand#8217;sand#160;masterfully researchedand#160;and honest tale of the crime-fighting life and personal struggles of the famed Eliot Ness.and#160;This isand#160;story-telling at its finest....and#8221;
and#8212;Carlton Stowers, two-time Edgar winner
and#160;
and#8220;Over timeand#8212;thanks in great part to Hollywood, television, and even comic booksand#8212;Nessand#8217;s remarkable crime-fighting career has been reduced to his famous struggle against mobster Al Capone. At last here is Ness in his first, second, and final acts. A true account of his life that makes for a better story than Hollywood could have ever concocted.and#8221;
and#8212;James McGrath Morris, author of The Rose Man of Sing Sing
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;
and#8220;You may have thought you knew Eliot Ness, but Douglas Perry shows us that The Untouchables and taking down Capone were only the start of his story. Ness, though he went on to fight more gangsters and hunt a serial killer, was a far more complicated and flawed American hero than we previously realized.and#8221;
and#8212;Paul French, author of Midnight in Peking
and#160;
Synopsis
In Public Enemies, bestselling author Bryan Burrough strips away the thick layer of myths put out by J. Edgar Hooverandrsquo;s FBI to tell the full storyandmdash;for the first timeandmdash;of the most spectacular crime wave in American history, the two-year battle between the young Hoover and the assortment of criminals who became national icons: John Dillinger, Machine Gun Kelly, Bonnie and Clyde, Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, and the Barkers. In an epic feat of storytelling and drawing on a remarkable amount of newly available material on all the major figures involved, Burrough reveals a web of interconnections within the vast American underworld and demonstrates how Hooverandrsquo;s G-men overcame their early fumbles to secure the FBIandrsquo;s rise to power.
Synopsis
The true story of Eliot Ness, the legendary lawman who led the Untouchables, took on Al Capone, and saved a cityand#8217;s soul Eliot Ness is famous for leading the Untouchables against the notorious mobster Al Capone. But it turns out that the legendary Prohibition Bureau squadand#8217;s daring raids were only the beginning. Nessand#8217;s true legacy reaches far beyond Big
Al and Chicago.
Eliot Ness follows the lawman through his days in Chicago and into his forgotten second act. As the public safety director of Cleveland, he achieved his greatest success: purging the city of corruption so deep that the mob and the police were often one and the same. And it was here, too, that he faced one of his greatest challenges: a brutal, serial killer known as the Torso Murderer, who terrorized the city for years.
Eliot Ness presents the first complete picture of the real Eliot Ness. Both fearless and shockingly shy, he inspired courage and loyalty in men twice his age, forged law-enforcement innovations that are still with us today, and earned acclaim and scandal from both his professional and personal lives. Through it all, he believed unwaveringly in the integrity of law and the basic goodness of his fellow Americans.
About the Author
Douglas Perry is the author of The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago. Percyand#8217;s an award-winning writer and editor whose work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, The San Jose Mercury News, The Oregonian, Tennis, and many other publications. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
Table of Contents
Author's Note
Cast of Characters
Prologue
- A Prelude to War, Spring 1933 1
- A Massacre by Persons Unknown, June 8 to June 15, 1933 19
- The College Boys Take the Field, June 17 to July 22, 1933 51
- The Baying of the Hounds, July 22 to August 25, 1933 71
- The Kid Jimmy, August 18 to September 25, 1933 98
- The Streets of Chicago, October 12 to November 20, 1933 135
- Ambushes, November 20 to December 31, 1933 162
- "An Attack on All We Hold Dear," January 2 to January 28, 1934 183
- A Star is Born, January 30 to March 2, 1934 206
- Dillinger and Nelson, March 3 to March 29, 1934 234
- Crescendo, March 30 to April 10, 1934 267
- Death in the North Woods, April 10 to April 23, 1934 292
- "And It's Death for Bonnie and Clyde," April 23 to May 23, 1934 323
- New Faces, May 24 to June 30, 1934 362
- The Woman in Orange, July 1 to July 27, 1934 388
- The Scramble, July 23 to September 12, 1934 417
- A Field in Ohio and a Highway in Illinois, September 18 to November 27, 1934 446
- The Last Man Standing, December 3, 1934 to January 20, 1935 484
- Pas de Deux, January 1935 until... 515
Epilogue 543
Bibliographical Essay 553
Notes 556
Selected Biography 567
Acknowledgements 571
Index 573