The astonishing true story of America's first and greatest "War on Crime."
In Public Enemies, Bryan Burrough strips away a thick layer of myths put out by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI to tell the full story of the most spectacular crime wave in American history, the two-year battle between the young Hoover and an 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 1933, police jurisdictions ended at state lines, the FBI was in its infancy, and fast cars and machine guns were easily available. It was a great time to be a bank robber. On hand were a motley crew of criminal masterminds, sociopaths, romantics, and cretins.
Bryan Burrough has unearthed an extraordinary amount of new material on all the major figures involved—revealing many fascinating interconnections in the vast underworld ecosystem that stretched from Texas up to Minnesota.
But the real-life connections were insignificant next to the sense of connectedness J. Edgar Hoover worked to create in the mind of the American public, using the "Great Crime Wave" to gain the position of untouchable power he would occupy for almost half a century.
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"This was amazingly interesting! Who isn't interested in those gangsters of the 30s like Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Machine gun Kelly and others? What a fascinating time in history! This book explores all the bad guys and the formation of what became the FBI and all the fumbling mistakes they made trying to capture these bad guys. I learned so much and it was a fun book to read!"
— Linda (5 out of 5 stars)
“[A] riveting true-crime tale…fascinating…the real story, it turns out, is much better than the Hollywood version.”
— Wall Street Journal“A rollicking yarn whose prose bounces across the page like a getaway car through a wheat field.”
— Newsweek“An amazingly detailed true-life thriller that puts us on a stakeout alongside the feds, inside the banks while bullets fly, and inevitably, next to the criminals’ bloody corpses.”
— Entertainment Weekly“This book compellingly brings back to life people and times distorted in the popular imagination by hagiographic bureau memoirs and Hollywood.”
— Publishers Weekly" Interesting, but very detailed and at times a bit too slow. "
— Aaron, 2/19/2014" I initially loved this book because of the true life nature of the stories. About half way through I wanted it to end! Maybe I just got bored! "
— Edgeley, 2/18/2014" Very interesting but a slow read because of all the names, places, and dates to keep up with. The pictures and maps in the front of the book are a very helpful resource. "
— Katha, 2/7/2014" Awesome! Thorough and precise. An amazing read. "
— Mike, 1/31/2014" Interesting read, but tough to follow. They follow a lot of plotlines (all true), but there's just too much going on at once. If you can't read this in a week or so, don't. "
— Christy, 1/25/2014" Wanted to read before I saw the movie...it certainly reads page after page like a high speed chase! "
— Sowande', 1/19/2014" Hard read... It was pretty boring.... "
— Ashlee, 1/16/2014" I wish the movie was this good..... "
— Martin, 1/14/2014" Very informative book, a lot of interesting information in one place. Presented in a cut/dry kind of way; unfortunately not the most entertaining book to read. "
— Jenni, 1/12/2014" I loved it, much better than the movie, which was good "
— Chuck, 1/8/2014" Quite a thorough look at the early days of the FBI and the "war on crime"/ depression era crooks periods. It does get a little dry in some points with the detail and the overlapping narrative regarding the various gangs but I found it a lot more enjoyable that the film (loosely) based on the book. "
— Nocheevo, 12/18/2013Bryan Burrough is a special correspondent at Vanity Fair and the author of five previous books, including The Big Rich and Public Enemies. A former reporter for the Wall Street Journal, he is a three-time winner of the John Hancock Award for excellence in financial journalism.
Campbell Scott has, in addition to his numerous stage and film credits, narrated more than forty audiobooks, including This Boy’s Life and Into Thin Air, and won seven AudioFile Earphones Awards.