America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI

First, I want to emphasize that I think this book is excellent and I recommend it to anyone interested in the subject matter. I like how it is organized chronologically, following the actions of the various criminals in parallel. It's loaded with details that I found very interesting and I think it was about time to debunk the myth about Purvis who was really more of a bumbling, over-confident publicity hound than he has generally been portrayed. It's also interesting that he wasn't even in charge in Chicago when Dillinger was killed or after that. The real hero who deserves the credit that Purvis stole for himself was Samuel Cowley who did his work and cared little or nothing for publicity. Sadly, he died in the shootout with Baby Face Nelson.

Another myth that the author debunked was that Hoover hounded Purvis out of the FBI out of jealousy. While that may be partly true because Purvis claimed credit for things he hadn't done, Hoover's main problem with Purvis was that he (Purvis) bungled things up so much. He was extremely incompetent. Also, Hoover didn't want publicity for individual FBI agents (except himself, of course - Hoover had a huge ego), but rather to the entire FBI as an organization.

The book does have it's problems though. First the nit-picking and then the more serious problems. For someone writing about a subject that includes the use of firearms on virtually every page, you would think that Burroughs would have gotten basic firearm terminology down. He refers to ammunition as "bullets." (I see he even misuses that term in a documentary I recently saw.) To those unfamiliar with firearms, a bullet is only part of a round of ammunition. It's the component that leaves the barrel of a gun when fired. Ammunition is made up of a casing, primer, powder and a bullet. Burroughs should know that. Also, he refers to a Luger piston as a "lugar" and doesn't seem to know the difference between a pistol and a revolver.

OK, that's nit-picking. But a more serious problem arises from Burrough's claim in the author's notes at the beginning of the book, "Please keep one thing in mind as you read: This book was not 'imagined,' as some recent popular histories. It was reported..."

The problem is that virtually every page of the book has long quotes of conversations that nobody could have possibly remembered. Burroughs would almost have one thinking that a stenographer was with every character in the book 24 hours a day recording every conversations. Even those involved couldn't possibly remember the exact words of their conversations. But Burroughs goes even farther. He tells us what the people were thinking and how they felt even for people who died shortly after the supposed conversation and couldn't have described those conversations to anyone. He also describes things that nobody could possibly have even thought of, let alone describe to someone else later - especially the FBI. This may not seem like a serious problem but it colors and influences the reader's understanding of the outlaws.

There are also some blatant factual errors in the book although that's to be expected with such a large book. For example, Burroughs tells us that Bonnie Parker's leg was severely injured when Clyde crashed his car. Burroughs says the car caught on fire and Bonnie's leg was severely burned by fire. Actually, according to all sources that I am aware of including contemporary witnesses, it wasn't fire that burned Bonnie's leg but battery acid.

Other than that, the book has numerous small errors including the names of towns, etc. For example, it's Palatine (IL), not Palestine. It's Bensenville (IL), not Bensonville, etc. Yes, this is nit-picking and it's almost certainly just a publisher's error.

That said, I really did enjoy the book and I think it's one of the best on the subject.

In summary --
This is a very entertaining book, but also a very informative one. The focus is on how the crime wave of 1933-34 rescued the FBI from possibly being disbanded and transformed it into a national police force. This is done by describing the actions of six criminal groups (including that of John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, the Barkers, and "Baby Face Nelson"), and the actions of the FBI in killing or capturing them (mostly the former). I recommend this book to those interested in US history, true crime stories, and to anyone interested in an entertaining and very informative nonfiction book.

In greater detail - what is in this book --
The book is exciting and is definitely non-academic in tone, but it is footnoted and contains a bibliography as well as an index. Thus, while the writing is crisp and exciting, one also gets the feeling that the author is trying to be as accurate as possible in providing the facts concerning the crime wave of 1933-34. The book discusses where different sources disagree about what actually happened and the author gives reasons why he favors a given description of events over others. Among the things that I learned from the book were:
1. The actions of the FBI during this period were mostly characterized by its ineptitude.
2. According to the author, Melvin Purvis was not relieved of command of the taskforce hunting down these criminals because J. Edgar Hoover was jealous of the attention he was getting, but rather because he was inept at his job. To be sure, the book points out that Hoover was jealous of the attention that Purvis was getting and that this certainly played a role in his demotion, but the book also points out that the praise Purvis was receiving from the press was unwarranted because of the many mistakes that he made.
3. Most of the myths surrounding the criminals discussed in the book were just that, myths. It also points out that far from being glamorous figures fighting against the depression, they were murderous thugs. It also shows that their life of crime was far from glamorous.
4. The crime wave discussed in the book did not represent the beginning of a wave bank robberies and kidnappings, rather it marked the end phase of such activities. There were actually more bank robberies in the 1920's than in the period discussed in this book.
5. The organized crime syndicates that had been responsible for bootlegging during Prohibition, and were now focused on other vice crimes, did not support the kidnapping and bank robbing of the gangs discussed in the book. Indeed they were opposed to them because their actions brought too much attention to criminal activities in general.

The book is chronological in its treatment of events and interweaves the stories of these gangs. Unfortunately, sometimes this made it difficult for me to follow the story of an individual gang. A single chapter might devote ten pages to John Dillinger, then shift to Bonnie and Clyde, and then spend time with the Barkers. There is a cast of 56 characters at the beginning of the book, which helped to keep things straight, and there also are several maps, but I still found the book a bit confusing at times. The cast of characters contains photographs, and there are 14 pages of additional black and white photographs on glossy paper that also added a lot.

This is a fascinating book. I learned more than I thought possible about early outlaws, such as John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Machine Gun Kelly, Bonnie and Clyde, and the Barker Gang. I also learned how the FBI's pursuit of these gangs--beginning with one disastrous error after another--helped "make" the agency what it is today.

Some interesting contextual factors. Many of the "outlaws" examined were of relatively little moment compared with the gangs, the Mafia, and so on. Bonnie and Clyde, for instance, were scarcely known by the public at large.

The FBI, before the events of 1933-1936, was a kind of backwater agency, without a clearly defined mission. There was even talk, with Franklin Roosevelt's election, that the agency's head, J. Edgar Hoover, would be removed. After an effort to bring a criminal to justice, the "Kansas City Massacre" occurred, in which the FBI's effort failed, Hoover began to consider a more active role in criminal investigation and action, focusing on well know gangs and criminals (with much focus on the gangs mentioned earlier).

The book itself is almost like a slow dance, going back and forth (in largely chronological sequence) between the different gangs and the FBI. We see the robberies and murders carried out by the gangs (varying from the psychopathic Machine Gun Kelly to the more "urbane" [if one can use such a term] John Dillinger). We see the relationships among gang members (sometimes moving from one gang to another), the development and ending of relationships with women, and the mythology (Ma Barker was not anything like a criminal mastermind, and Bonnie and Clyde were looked at as minor leaguers).

The FBI part of the story began with them as clueless about how to operate in the field (they were weak in understanding the use of guns before the campaign against the gangs began); they were inept on the simplest elements of sleuthing (including observation of suspects, how to surround "bad guys" so that they could not escape, an appalling lack of follow up on some terrific leads). Early on? "Amateur hour."

But the FBI learned and began to reel the gangs and their members in. . . .

A fascinating book. If you are interested in the era, the gangs, and the role of the FBI, this will be a fine read.

As I read Public Enemies, I kept thinking how much time and work the author put into it. The level of detail is amazing. Where other authors use speculation to guess what might have been said between people in historical books, Burrough researched hundreds of thousands of pages of FBI files and recreates conversations word for word. It truly is the definitive look at the crime wave that created the FBI.

Burough does not glamorize these criminals, nor does he vilify them. He presents the reader with the sequence of events and facts, and weaves together a fascinating story that filled in a lot blanks about criminals whose names I knew, but not much else.

My only caution, and it certainly didn't prevent me from giving the book 5 stars, is at times it was almost too detailed. It took me a long time to get through Public Enemies. There are so many names, interwoven stories, plots, etc. that I found myself going back to the very helpful cast of characters and maps he provides in the beginning just to remind me which characters were which. It was worth it by the time I finished, but I am advising the casual reader that this is not a quick read, and you really need to pay attention or you will get lost at times and forget who's who.

One thing is certain, you will know a heck of a lot more about the 1930's crime wave for reading Public Enemies. Good book.

Between mid June 1933 and the end of 1935 Americans were caught up in the war on crime. J. Edgar Hoover's FBI were trying to rid the country of criminals whose names we still recognize today.....John Dillenger, Bonnie and Clyde,Baby Face Nelson,Alvin Karpis,Ma Barker and her boys. The Lindbergh kidnaping had left a deeply shaken nation, and Hoover wanted his department to lead the way to a new crime free era. Hoover's men didn't carry guns,they investigated. That set them at adistinct disadvantage to the gangsters, they carried guns and were willing to use them. Set against the backdrop of the Depression, Byran Burrough introduces us to a group of unforgettable persons,stripping away myth. Interestingly, Hoover, himself is responsible for many of the myths that sprang up about the G men. These G men were mostly

college educated, mixed with some seasoned lawmen who shared the visionof a national bureau designed to stamp out crime. Some were more driven towards self promotion(Melvin Purvis's legend takes a beating)which was in direct competition with Hoover's need to micro manage and claim the glory.

Familiar crime figures are given faces(not the most attractive bunch)and their backgrounds are fleshed out.The emergence of the planned bank robbery,with getaway car and lookouts raised the stakes. Many of these criminals shared loose ties and often you find members of one gang involved in another's scheme. In a somewhat telling moment Bonnie Parker, when asked what she wanted the public to know about her

replied "I don't smoke cigars". As crimes are carried out, these gangs seem to get away, almost at will. The FBI are slow on the trail, hampered by local police(often corrupt)and their own infighting and unwillingness to check tips and follow up leads. As the public humiliation grows,the bureau begins to catch some lucky breaks and more seasoned lawmen come on determined to stop the lawlessness.The bureau

as we now know it began to develop in those months.Thoroughly

researched, Public Enemies not only captures the times but accurately portrays the drudgery both a life of crime and a life chasing crime. Some old stories weather the closer look....Dillinger's betrayal by the woman at the movie theater. Some are new.....Hoover insisting on "arresting" Alvin Karpis after being embarrassed in congressional hearings. A must read for anyone who grew up on "The Untouchables" and old gangster movies.

As it is generally thought of, the great crime wave of 1933/1934 that turned the FBI into a major organization and made household names out of Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Bonnie and Clyde, and the Barker Gang is in fact really just a story of your everyday basic thugs and killers who were connected together in the shadowy underworld of post-prohibition America.

According to Burrough, whose research is amazing in its scope and ability to "correct" other books, these criminals that are still household names today were simply the result of a couple of coincidences.

1 - The peak of the depression in the midwest had driven many people into poverty. This increase in poverty led to more crime. Also, since so many people were broke or bankrupt due to banks taking their property, bank robbers were viewed as heroes to many.

2 - The FBI in 1932 was primarily an organization designed to find kidnappers. This all changed when, for the first time, an FBI agent was killed in the line of duty (Kansas City Massacre). From then on, the FBI, under Herbert Hoover, went about trying to make itself into a national police force.

3 - The large number of criminals operating at the same time made it appear as if America were experiencing a "Crime Wave", when in fact it was just a short term by-product of the Depression.

4 - The FBI should've caught all of them numerous times but blew it because they were still trying to work out the kinks in their new role as a national police force.

I don't want to give too much away, so I will simply say this:

Even though the real stories of these criminals is less exciting than the myths about them, Burrough does a wonderful job of telling their stories, which are still more interesting and exciting than any fiction I have read in years.

Highly Recommended!

"Enemies" reads like a the firing of the Thompson machine gun these various 1930 gangs used to overwhelm local police and against the young rookie white collar FBI recruits, who joined the FBI because it was the only job available in the depression. Burrough's telling of the "War on Crime" fires off facts, incidents, characters in a rapid none stop narrative. The telling like a diary in chronological order of who robbed, killed, ambushed, kidnapped and was caught and escaped on any given day. All the while J. Edger Hoover's FBI demonstrated they were out manned, outgunned, and really were the keystone cops of sloppy police work. And the press got the publics attention, especially with Dillenger, as they ran with the criminal as underdog "hero" story. No doubt the book is epic in trying a huge cast of characters, scores of individual FBI agents to six major crime families and there leaders and members. Here you will find The St. Paul Yeggs, Pretty Boy Floyd, The Barrow Gang (Bonnie and Clyde), The Barker-Karpis Gang (Ma Barker), The Baby Face Nelson Gang, and the Dillinger Gang. The narrative is at it's best when following Dillinger's exploits and the FBI's fruitless attempts to capture him and with the Barker-Karpis Gang (Alvin Karpis story begins the book in the prologue and ends the book with his capture and imprisonment). I found the book enjoyable and certainly an education on the "War on Crime", a give it a definite recommendation, however, after a while all the characters, bank robberies, gun fights, girl friends, chases, missed opportunities become overwhelming and you do on occasion want to say, enough is enough. And all the while I was reading this I thought, WOW shouldn't HBO make this a limited TV series, a kind of Band of Brothers of Gangsters.

Author Bryan Burrough has provided us with over 500 pages detailing the two year time period from 1933--1934 covering the depression era bandits that terrorized primarily the midwestern United States. The book covers the likes of Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, Bonnie and Clyde, and others in a chronological order in regard to time. This necessitates jumping from one outlaw to another, but I did not find this to be bothersome. I would prefer that method as opposed to taking the complete "career" of each character. Burrough states these characters led to the formation of the F.B.I. Jealously ran rampant with J. Edgar Hoover at the helm since the country lionized Melvin Purvis after bringing down John Dillinger. Purvis wasn't bashful about giving interviews regarding the part he played bringing down these thugs. Hoover seethed at his former protege's publicity. Hoover wanted no agent to get any individual credit. However, Hoover, had no quams about having the public focus on him as the man who was responsible for bringing down these gangsters. All these two bit outlaws shared one thing in common. They always had to be on the alert to being discovered and caught. Living in drafty apartments, sleeping in cars, bathing in rivers, having their bullet wounds treated by questionable doctors, and a desire to have a normal family relationship that normal people enjoyed all were part of the lifestyle all these shady characters had in common. This book is a lengthy read, but it is well worth your time if this part of American history is of interest to you.

We simply can't resist. Give Americans a good cops and robbers story, and there's bound to be a movie not too far behind. This is especially true when the tale is filled with household names shown as everyday people.

And that is precisely what this book does. For the first time, we've been provided a universal perspective of characters, events, successes and failures, and luck (fortunate and unfortunate!) related to the beginning of the FBI and the crime wave that ignited its need.

Yep, I couldn't help myself. The stereotypes imbedded since my youth are so vividly drawn. I was rooting for John Dillinger even though I've known his destiny since I was eight years old. Old Man Hoover, a bumbling inspector who excelled in politics and media manipulation, actually at times seems a worst character than the criminals.

It's a fantastic book that reads faster than a bank robber leaves the vault. It's well researched and just plain readable. The bad guys (and gals) had highly intricate relationships, which Mr. Burrough masterfully weaves together throughout the historical journey.

Oh what a great movie this will make. I suspect the leading talents in Hollywood are already pushing agents for a juicy part. Gimme a Coke and some buttered popcorn!

But don't simply wait for the movie. This is a must-read book for anyone even remotely interested in contemporary U.S. history.

Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34, by Bryan Burrough, is the thoroughly researched tale of the gangsters and the FBI in the early 30's. Burrough noticed one night while watching an old show about Ma Barker that there was a correlation in the years regarding all of the biggest gangster gangs of the day and noticed that in 1933 and 1934 the major criminal factions were running high on the gambit and that the FBI was created during this time. He researched the rise of the gangsters and the creation of the FBI and compiled this compelling book and put the whole story together in one volume. As a result, this book transports you back to the days of tourist camps, tommy guns, gangster molls, roadside set ups, and bank robberies and shoot 'em ups.

Hoover runs the FBI from it's infancy when the police had lesser weapons then the criminals and the criminals called the shots in the beginning. This historical book takes you through the botched investigations, who was involved, who was being watched, etc. In many cases, exact addresses are provided. The FBI force grows smarter as time progresses and the gangsters run out of hideouts. There are even maps that show routes the different gangs used during their time. The states they drove in and out of and the places they used as hide-outs.

This book has a section of photos of each gang so you see all the players of the gangs and it also has pictures of the FBI gang so you can put a face to each side. Through the FBI files that were released, Burrough has pieced together conversations and actions of the gangsters and the FBI throughout this time period.

The end of the book is also tied up nicely with what happened to the molls, and the FBI people, and the families of the gangsters after their deaths. Burrough tells where Dillinger and Bonnie and the rest are buried and what surrounds their graves, and how Hollywood has glorified certain gangsters. Hoover's take on things is very interesting as well.

This is a complete history of the rise and fall of the gangsters of that day as well as the fallible at the time, FBI, and it's boss, Hoover, who directed them with all the good, bad and ugly details as they gained steam to catch the most wanted of the day.

If you have any interest in the Public Enemies of the Thirties or the rise and the reason for the FBI, this is a great book. There are footnotes and references galore in this very well researched book.

The book "Public Enemies" is very detailed, but at the same time highly entertaining. The stories are so intense that they sound like they're straight from a movie. Also, this is the kind of book that anybody could read, and I wouldn't mind giving it to a teenager to broaden his horizons. The book is long, but it is definitely worth it and I highly recommend it.

My only issue with the book is the progression of the story. While Bryan Burroughs does an excellent job of keeping things chronologically in tact, the flow of the story can be frustrating at times. In one paragraph, you will be reading about John Dillinger and be on the edge of your seat, and then Burroughs will take you to a completely new story featuring Bonnie and Clyde, giving few hints as to when he'll return to the previous unfinished story. Then, he'll take you back to the original story, but you have to re-orient yourself for a while and remember what the story was about because of the diversity of characters in the book.

Overall though, I highly recommend this book. It is very fascinating.

Bryan Burrough's Public Enemies is among the best historical works I've read in the last few years. Burrough takes what must have been a mountain of research and turns it into a readable, intelligent, and often exciting story.

Public Enemies is the basis of Michael Mann's movie, which focuses primarily on the year-long crime spree of John Dillinger. But Burrough's book features not only Dillinger, but also Pretty Boy Floyd (a virtual cameo in the movie), Baby Face Nelson, Bonnie and Clyde, Machine Gun Kelly, and the Barker-Karpis Gang. Each gang's story intertwines in sometimes surprising ways, and the criminals' activities are interwoven with the halting initial steps of the FBI.

Burrough masterfully characterizes the figures populating his history. The major figures--and even many of the hundreds of smaller players--become more than names and faces, but real people with personalities, vices, and virtues. Hoover is a bulldog about fighting crime, but an officious, sometimes petty boss. Purvis cares perhaps too much about his appearance, and Samuel P. Cowley, Purvis's replacement as head of the Dillinger Squad, is a hardworking Mormon with a surprising amount of guts.

This gift for description and characterization especially helps when Burrough discusses the criminals in his story. Here he does a lot of myth-busting. Dillinger, hardly the romantic figure even Michael Mann portrayed him to be, was a user whose sociopathy was at least partially tempered by his charm and discretion. Bonnie and Clyde, hardly the storm-tossed lovers of the 1960s film, were murderous rednecks. Casting a more critical light on these often romanticized legends is one of the virtues of Burrough's book.

A few other reviewers have accused Burrough of glorifying Dillinger and his ilk, or even of being "pro-criminal." This is not the case. Burrough dwells on the FBI's numerous screwups precisely because there were so many. Putting a positive spin on the FBI's many early errors would be a mistake. Burrough's point is that despite the sometimes Keystone Kops-like behavior and the testy internal politics of the FBI, they got the job done.

Highly recommended.

Although the movie was a disappointment, this is a wonderful book. Burrough is just a spectacular writer and the narrative is well-known enough that I don't need to try to sell anyone on it. What I will say is that Public Enemies has perhaps the best introduction in it that I've read at this point in my life. First in the author's note, Burrough presents exactly why he decided to write the book and why it was so compelling. That he suddenly discovered one day that Pretty Boy Floyd, Alvin Karpis, Baby Face Nelson, John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Ma Barker, all made their names concurrently inside a single year in the 1930s and how shocked he was to learn that prior authors had neglected to inform the public of this as they told each story independently. Then in the prologue, he teases the narrative with an account of someone who lived through it. Finally, in the opening pages he does what too many non-fiction authors fail to do - properly place their own book in the context of the world around it. He writes that 1933 was not some antiquated, back century time but eight years from Pearl Harbor, a decade before the Atomic bomb, twenty three years before Elvis and less than forty before Woodstock. There are still people alive today, Burrough writes, that cowered behind their mothers knees while Dillinger raided the bank vault just a few feet away from them.

The book is worth reading because it's a fascinating story but the introduction chapters alone are a lesson - for me at least - in the mastery of writing. Alvin Karpis was a figure I want to learn more about after reading, his story extends far outside bank robbing and On the Rock: Twenty-Five Years in Alcatraz: the Prison Story of Alvin Karpis, his autobiography, sounds interesting. I ordered it last week and expect it soon. For those that want more of Brian Burrough, Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco is a good book.

Although the movie was a disappointment, this is a wonderful book. Burrough is just a spectacular writer and the narrative is well-known enough that I don't need to try to sell anyone on it. What I will say is that Public Enemies has perhaps the best introduction in it that I've read at this point in my life. First in the author's note, Burrough presents exactly why he decided to write the book and why it was so compelling. That he suddenly discovered one day that Pretty Boy Floyd, Alvin Karpis, Baby Face Nelson, John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Ma Barker, all made their names concurrently inside a single year in the 1930s and how shocked he was to learn that prior authors had neglected to inform the public of this as they told each story independently. Then in the prologue, he teases the narrative with an account of someone who lived through it. Finally, in the opening pages he does what too many non-fiction authors fail to do - properly place their own book in the context of the world around it. He writes that 1933 was not some antiquated, back century time but eight years from Pearl Harbor, a decade before the Atomic bomb, twenty three years before Elvis and less than forty before Woodstock. There are still people alive today, Burrough writes, that cowered behind their mothers knees while Dillinger raided the bank vault just a few feet away from them.

The book is worth reading because it's a fascinating story but the introduction chapters alone are a lesson - for me at least - in the mastery of writing. Alvin Karpis was a figure I want to learn more about after reading, his story extends far outside bank robbing and On the Rock: Twenty-Five Years in Alcatraz: the Prison Story of Alvin Karpis, his autobiography, sounds interesting. I ordered it last week and expect it soon. For those that want more of Brian Burrough, Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco is a good book.

This is a gripping and fascinating look at the lives of the last romantic desperadoes of American history and cultural mythology. Bryan Burrough does a fine job of bringing much of the era of outlaws and G-Men alive with keen research and a good narrative focus. In fact, Burrough strikes a perfect balance between scrupulous scholarship and fast-paced storytelling, leaving both history buffs and true crime readers something to enjoy. The best part about this book to me though is that Burrough is able to write about Dillinger, "Baby Face" Nelson, and others as well as their FBI pursuers without glorifying them. In this book, the criminals are seen for exactly what they are: criminals, and deadly ones too. And the FBI is portrayed as incredibly incompetent up until the death of John Dillinger. After that, the FBI becomes the premier police force that Hoover dreamed of, as Burrough points out. The worst part about this book is that Burrough never fully explains the appeal the outlaws had in mainstream society. Dillinger and others were famous "Robin Hood" figures in the public imagination, but Burrough only gives the lame explanation of it being the Depression and all that. No doubt that was the biggest contributing factor, but it's not a good enough explanation in my mind. Also, Burrough only mentions some of the extra-legal tactics of the FBI that would come to mark the Bureau under Hoover's reign. In fact, he only describes in detail some of these tactics, like kidnapping a suspect's wife and beating another suspect. But he never goes into greater depth about other events like this. Surely, for a police force that would become notorious for these actions, their origins should have been given a little more air time. In short, this is a great book to look too when looking for the true stories of Dillinger, Bonnie & Clyde, and others who are portrayed in movies, especially the recent Johnny Depp/Michael Mann movie based on this book.

After watching the dull Johnny Depp movie, "Public Enemies," I had to pick up the book that the film was supposedly based on. The book couldn't possibly be as lame as the movie! And I was right.

"Public Enemies" (the book), is rich in detail, broad in scope and packed with new ways of looking at old stories. The book covers the criminal careers of the great bank robbers of the early 1930s -- Pretty Boy Floyd, John Dillinger, Machine Gun Kelly, the Barker Gang and the infamous Bonny and Clyde. The War on Crime is the subject of page after detail-drenched page. The gangs' exploits, when they don't misfire, overlap with each other. Local law enforcement is either thoroughly corrupt or is almost comically unable to capture their quarry. J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, filled with college boys and focused on minutia like keeping crumbs off their desks, misses chance after chance to nail the bad guys. Much of the action seems to take place simultaneously, and Burrough provides time frames to keep the reader on track

Though "Public Enemies" could use a few more pictures, its exquisitely-researched narrative is graphic enough. The book details jail breaks, close calls, national manhunts, tabloid newspapers, kidnappings, crime molls and vicious shootings. But Burrough is very keen not to romanticize the violent men who alternatively terrorized and fascinated large swaths of the country. Neither does he buy into the elf-serving myths that the FBI has served up over the years to tart up its sometimes accidental successes and play down its failures.

A terrific slice of history that is fun to read and informative. The movie could have leaned on it much more.

Anyone wishing to learn the unvarnished truth about the origin and expansion of the FBI need look no further than this book. It is an excellent, well-written work about the War on Crime initiated by the Federal Government in 1933-34 that turned the FBI from a bumbling group of college men into the professional establsihment it is today. The book doesn't gloss over the FBI's initial failures, and their attempts to cover up their mistakes, but it does show that the agents learned their trade "on the job", and ultimately triumphed, even if often their success came about by accident. We are given thorough histories for the initial "public enemies" of the '30s: Machine Gun Kelly, Pretty Boy Floyd, John Dillinger, etc.. My only quibble was that the book followed a strict time line and often that approach was confusing as it shifted back and forth among the criminals. However, I learned to keep the characters straight, and that helped quite a bit. Anyone interested in this subject, and this period of our nation's history, will thoroughly enjoy this book.

One of my favorite books of all time. Deeply informative of this era, and really paints a complete picture. Read it myself twice,and then got the audio book. My gosh- Campbell Scott is boring as Hell to listen to. Made it theough less than a chapter and decided just to read it myself again. He is emotionless and makes the text very flat. Shame.

They've become immortalized in Hollywood: the charming John Dillinger, the young lovers Bonnie & Clyde, the scheming Ma Barker. Their stories have entertained generations on the silver screen and in legend. Naturally, most of the stories you've heard are untrue: Dillinger was an egotist, Bonnie & Clyde were border-line psychopathic, and Ma Barker was far from a criminal mastermind (and, compared to the other gangsters of the era, wasn't even a real outlaw). Hollywood loves a good story; you have to wonder why they don't stick closer to the truth, especially when it's this interesting?

Thankfully, Bryan Burrough paints a realistic picture of the most infamous gangsters of the 1930s: John Dillinger, Bonnie Parker & Clyde Barrow, the Barker-Karpis Gang, Pretty Boy Floyd, and George "Baby Face" Nelson, as well as all of their known associates. The result is a book packed with information, almost too much so; it's a very slow read, as readers try to absorb all the information Burrough throws their way. Don't get me wrong: the book is very well written and genuinely suspenseful; it just strains a bit beneath the weight of its own ambitions, much like the outlaws it chronicles. This is still a highly recommended book for anyone interested in this era; to think, most of the book's events fall within a two-year time span. PUBLIC ENEMIES is a well-researched, well-written, and absolutely thrilling look at an infamous time in American history, and is a must-read for anyone who has any illusions about the grandeur of a life of crime.

Public enemies is an AMAZING book!!! I love how you are reading about Pretty Boy Floyd, then John Dillinger, then Baby Face Nelson, then Bonnie and Clyde, then the Barker-Karpis gang.

In the story about Bonnie and Clyde you learn that they are not fun, caring, do-gooders as they are portrayed as in the movie "Bonnie and Clyde. They are just small time gangsters who rob small banks and make a small amount of money. I love how their death is written and it makes you realize that they we're just poor and needed money, but tried to get it in the wrong way. I think that they we're so popular after they died because people hated the government and Bonnie and Clyde kind of just went by their own rules.

With Pretty Boy Floyd you learn that he to is a small time gangster who was more known is Nebraska than any other state. Even the day he is shot and killed by Melvin Pervis he hadn't done anything big except for the Kansas City Massacre in which he and his buddy shot innocent cops and people because Verne Miller payed them to set his buddies free.

I loved the Baby Face Nelson story becuse you realize that some gangsters we're total hot heads. Nelson's story starts with him doing small time jobs and him being the head of his gang, that is until John Dillinger comes along. In the Dillinger-Nelson gang they do bigger jobs and quickly realize that Nelson is not a good gang partner. He almost gets them killed and claims that banks have more money than they really do. All in all Nelson remings me of Sunny in the Godfather series, just a hot headed idiot.

The John Dillinger part was written very well. You notice that John is dumb, (Not anywere near Nelson dumb) but sometimes very smart. He starts off small then gets HUGE because of his nice guy looks and attitude, he's charming, and witty in his prision escapes. Becuse of that, he became VERY well known and well liked. I love the parts when you are reading and go NO!!! John why did you do that?

Lastly is my favorite gangster, Alvin Karpis. Alvin starts out on his own then meets up with the Barkers to form the Barker-Karpis gang. They are pretty big but most of the Barkers are stupid. I love Karpis because he is the only one who realizes that robbing banks and being gangsters won't last forever. He tries to warn Dillinger but he doesn't listen. Also he is the last big gangster to be arrested.

All in all Public Enemies is a GREAT book and I find myself reading it over and over again.

This is a great book. Author infers in his introduction that this was a labor of love and it shows in his writing. At over 500 pages, it shows the relationship of the five major criminal gangs of the 1933-34 time period. Those were the Barker Gang, Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Machine Gun Kelly, Baby Face Nelson, and Dillenger. With the exception of Bonnie and Clyde (who were strictly small time), all knew each other and helped in raids. None of these people were glamourous since they all murdered people. Dillenger killed three policemen. Bonnie, Clyde, and Baby Face Nelson were psychopaths. Why people had admiration for them is beyond me, but the times were hard and many felt banks were as crooked as those who robbed them.

This book also details the rise of the FBI and how Hoover interferred with the progress of investigations. Purvis was mildly incompetent. Why some of these gangsters roomed the streets was due to FBI leads not being followed up. In the end, the FBI became more professional due to this crime wave. Hoover went on to become the Crime Dictator for forty years.

This is a great book and is very readable. For those interested in the Great Depression and the fall of the bank robbers, this is a treasure trove of information. Highly recommended.

Public Enemies was an ambitious undertaking by Burrough because to satisfy the often encyclopedic-minded history buff with a book that discusses every big-name criminal in the early thirties, as well as the genesis of the FBI, is a tall order indeed.

So how did the author handle it? Perhaps in the most logical way -- chronologically. This approach is somewhat difficult for the reader. One day you are in North Texas with one set of characters. Not with just the criminals, but their cronies, victims, and others, ALL of whom have names. Then you're in Northern Indiana two days later with 5-15 others, then a week later you're in Eastern Kansas with a dozen others. You do this with seven or eight groups and then start all over again. For the first third of the book, your head might well be spinning as you try to parse out who's who, anticipating that you'll need the information later, which indeed you will.

As luck would have it, as you progress, people start getting killed off and some of that settles down.

By the time you work through the period, you WILL know who all these people were, their geneses, and their fates. And after all, that's why you read it, right?

It is also great to get a flavor for the state of law enforcement, economic conditions, and cultural aspects that allowed these notorious characters to spawn and flourish.

That said, I found the book's treatment of the birth of the FBI, and of Hoover, quite uninteresting. But that is not why most of us picked up this book. We want Public Enemies, and this book delivers on that part of the promise.

When I first opened this credible, well-researched book, I was delighted to see photos of the FBI agents I have admired in my own Dillinger research. For the first time, a face to the men who put their lives on the line to hunt the public enemies of the 1930s! Also, as a person who has researched the Dillinger women for almost two decades, my delight with the book was established at the respect Burrough paid to the molls. Doris Lockerman's eyewitness account of the night Melvin Purvis helped Frechette, by letting her sleep during the endless interrogation - that is not an anti-FBI story but a pro-FBI story.

The term "plagiarism," in one review, confuses me completely. The use of quotes originally published under copyright by Melvin Purvis, is "fair use," not "plagiarism." Fair use is defined by publishing law, and there is no evidence of such encroachment here. In defense of quoting Melvin Purvis - the man was hounded and silenced by Hoover. It is important that readers, who may not have purchased Purvis's book, get the vantage point of his own opinions.

I agree with Rick Mattix that downloadable FBI documents are the tip of the iceberg. The FBI Reading Room holds the true history in the 38,000 pages on file in the stacks. Burrough has widely, and accurately, cited those documents.

And where is it written that historians can no longer examine the role of Melvin Purvis? Mr. Purvis, one of my heroes in the Dillinger saga, has inspired controversy since his original role in the FBI ended. Mr. Burrough went to great length to feature the faces of the FBI agents in a never-before published photo gallery. He honored their role by doing so.

For readers who hunger for more information on the peripheral gang members, there is a lot of new material. The true address of the St. Andrews Hotel in New York City, for instance, where John Paul Chase lammed with Sally Bachman, is one important detail I've never seen. Also, Burrough confirmed my suspicions that Lester Gillis never trusted Bachman. This book offers many levels upon which the reader can discern with intelligence and objectivity.

Mr. Bryan Burrough has written a very thorough, well written, and objective book about the John Dellinger era in American history of crime and justice. Perhaps the most informative part of Mr. Burrough's work concerns the ease of getting away with any type of crime in the 1920s and early 1930s. There were no really significant units of federal law enforcement. Bank robbers and other law breakers had merely to go over the state line to be safe from prosecution. And the newly developed automobiles and improved other forms of transportation made this task far easier. Of course this changed at least somewhat with J. Edgar Hoover's FBI. Mr. Burrough very effectively tells this story of the rise of the FBI and the downfall of John Dellinger and other high profile robbers and kidnappers in the early 1930s. Mr. Burrough does not spare anyone in his very objective account. He narrates the sometime killings of John Dillinger and other robbers, the often arrogance and bullying of J. Edgar Hoover, the often incompetence of Melvin Purvis, and the deficiencies of others. For particularly those with an interest in the 1930s gangsters this book is an invaluable, readable, and objective work.

Bryan Burrough does a superb job of simultaneously debunking myths while at the same time creating an even more fascinating story. In Public Enemies, the author examnies the crime wave of 1933-34, focusing on Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, the Barker-Karpis Gang, Bonnie and Clyde, Machine Gun Kelly, and Pretty Boy Floyd. He demonstrates how these criminals and their respective crime sprees built the reputation of the FBI and, in essence, created the force as was known for decades afterwards. The book is a wonderful read and the author even manages to make the seemingly endless stream of bank robberies individually interesting. The ineptness of the beginning attempts of law enforcement to come to grips with the crime wave is beautifully wrought as is all the networks of connections between the varioujs criminals. A delightful book that captures a fascinating time.

Burrough takes you beyond the comic book version of gangsters and G-men in this detailed look at a unique period of American history. All sorts of interesting tidbits flow out of the pages, all of it based upon solid research. Burrough has said he wanted to avoid any 'speculative' history where the author attempts to interpret events or else posit some theory based upon flimsy evidence. I appreciate that as I've had too many experiences of authors interjecting their theories into history books and rendering the book somewhat ludicrous.

That said, in some places the book does get weighted down under an avalanche of information. In those places I had to slow down in order to follow the story line. However, I didn't find that too big of an issue....not even enough to deduct a star off my rating.

Overall, an excellent read which will give you a comprehensive understanding of the gangster era.

This book and Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan are so far my number 1 books of the year. This book is about the gangster era of the early 30s featuring Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger and a few more. The stories about these people are so fascinating that it made me want to keep reading. A ton of research went into making this book come alive. I really, really enjoyed this book and plan to see the movie based on it one day. I think this book would appeal more to men than women though--a great read!

The truth is more fantastic than the movies that mythologized this era. This era, rendered timeless by the movies, in reality consumed only about 18 months, during which time the gangsters detailed within came to fame and, with one exception (Alvin Karpis), died of very unnatural causes. Dillinger remains the most interesting of the bunch, Baby Face Nelson the most repulsive. These were some bad hombres, and the modern FBI was created, at considerable cost in the lives of its agents, in quite literally hunting them down and killing them. The reaction of the public to the criminals -- frequently crowding bank robbery sites to get a peek at Tommy-gun wielding killers, or truculently resisting the oddly polite requests from the same Thompson-wielding killers to give up their cars -- is equally interesting, and shows that we live in different times.

I enjoyed the book very much, but the Kindle edition has numerous editing errors - from missing spaces between words to paragraphs being cut off mid sentence.

It is pretty ridiculous that it is allowed to be sold with so many blatant errors.

Update: I just got an e-mail regarding this book recently saying that there was an updated Kindle version available that addressed the issues I was talking about. I didn't check or anything but it seems as if they finally updated and fixed it.

I have read almost all the Dillinger books worth reading beginning with Tolands book "The Dillinger Days to Lew Louderback's "The Bad ones" on to the latest Dillinger slept here,Dillinger's Wild ride! Plus most if not all of the pretty boy floyd books and almost all the Bonnie and Clyde books { Trust me go down together by Jeff Guinn is the very best,this man is good}Burrough's book is addicting! I honestly could not put it down and lost sleep because of it. I have been reading 30's true crime for years,especially all the main players in this book.I grew up in Indiana and my Father was a State Policeman and knew "Hube" Dillinger personaly{John's half brother} and his wife who also worked for the indiana state police,so i guess this is where my interest grew! If this book was a tv show it would surpass the Sopranos the way he puts all the characters in different situations at same time in different parts of the country. He really did his homework on this and if you get into the 30's Bankrobbers and Bandits ya gotta have this!This the finest book i have ever read and i was almost depressed when i closed the last page. I hope he writes another one but he was so thorough in the first i think it's impossible! This book is what i call a "keeper" ,don't loan it out,keep it like new and every three months or so have the joy of rereading it again!Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34

I absolutely loved this book.

If you saw the movie, then you only saw part of the story. While Public Enemies does revolve around John Dillinger, it goes way beyond that.

The reader is transported back into time, to the beginning of the FBI as we know it. The author relies on reliable evidence, and the FBI's own records, to bring the true story of some of America's most famous criminals, and how Hoover used his manhunt for them to build the FBI.

This is a historically accurate account that will keep your interest from start to finish. Simply put, it is just a good read!

Yes- Mr. Burrough made some mistakes with addresses and a few name spellings but overall I was impressed with how he made all of the information flow together so well. This was a huge task to take on and I was surprised how good of a job was done. I did have to deduct a star due to how much Mr. Burrough relied on Alvin Karpis's word for word retelling of events that happened so long ago- it gives the book a bit of a fiction feel to it at times. Overall this was a very good read. I must add that the movie based on this book was pure garbage.

I can't imagine anyone finding fault with this book or giving it less than a five-star review.. Mr. Burroughs is to be commended for a job well done. As a crime aficionado myself who is, unfortunately, usually disappointed in the inaccurate reportage in the pages of the vast majority of so-called "true crime" publications both past and present, I found "Public Enemies" to be a breath of fresh air in that it was fast-paced, meticulously researched, and exciting. Definitely a keeper in my library!

This is what good history books should be all about. Mr. Burrough's engaging retelling of the overly romanticized, Depression-era criminals and exposing Hoover's public relations spin for personal gain was very effect. Historians that capably dissect events from the past help us to understand how today's events are also manipulated for political and philosophical gain. As trite as it may sound, history does repeat itself. Mr. Burrough's book is well written and kept me entertained and informed throughout. Thoroughly enjoyable.

a fascinating book about a fascinating time in america. dillinger, baby face nelson, pretty boy floyd, the barker family, machine gun kelly, bonnie and clyde, j edgar hooever, and melvin purvis; all are brought vividly to life on the pages of this terrific book. it's long, but sustained my interest every page of the way. i know of no better book that covers the history of crime in america in the early 1930's than this one. go ahead and read it. you have my approval.

Found this book to be fascinating. Loved the use of the timeline approach. Having lived 50 miles from Little Bohemia and listening to my father talk about the gangster era, it dispeled my thought that this was a decade of violence vs. 1 year. The book shows the the development of a professional FBI and all the ups and downs attendent with this development. It also showed the criminals in a balanced light, even bad people do good deeds.

Here is a book that deserves careful study--and reads so much like a really well-made documentary that we don't feel like it's work at all! Written with obvious enthusiasm and a clear, crisp tone, the author's style is so well-crafted that we don't notice it--he never gets in the way of his subject. The subject is fascinating, historically significant, and presented in a manner that never "gives away" the ending, as this master of non-fiction slowly reveals the remarkable growth of the FBI during a time in U.S. history that was ruled by fear of the mobs--and glamour of renegade criminals. Perfectly conceived and written with panache.

I generally write long reviews of books to convince people to read them. This one won't be very long.

First, one-ONE issue I have: Burrough, an excellent writer (see Barbarians at the Gate, one of the greatest books of the past 50 years) absolutely hates Clyde Barrow. Not that I'm complaining, Clyde Barrow was a horrible person and when you read the prologue, you can see why. Still, Burrough makes it clear from the beginning that he's going to make Clyde look like hell, and he does.

This is one of my all time favorite books, however. If you have a chance to read it, don't pass it up. That simple.

Very well done compilation of the history of the six major public enemies of 1933-34. While it reads a little dry, the book is well researched and noted. I found the balance between the history of the criminals and the FBI quite good. Paints a very good picture of the era. There may be a few minor errors, but that is what they are, minor. Goes without saying, much better than the movie. Hollywood will never rise to the occasion.

"...the familiar smell of fresh hops and barley hung thick outside Hamm's Brewery, which rose from the streets of Minneapolis like some medieval European castle."

If Mr. Burrough is unable to distinguish between Minneapolis and St. Paul- St. Paul being the actual home of the Hamm's Brewery, and the Hamm's mansion- I wonder what other blatant errors his book contains. I was enjoying the read until I ran across this ridiculous mistake.

Such an obvious error also calls into question the efficacy of the editing.

I will continue reading the book, but with a highly skeptical eye as it relates to his command of the facts.

Preposterous.

"...the familiar smell of fresh hops and barley hung thick outside Hamm's Brewery, which rose from the streets of Minneapolis like some medieval European castle."

If Mr. Burrough is unable to distinguish between Minneapolis and St. Paul- St. Paul being the actual home of the Hamm's Brewery, and the Hamm's mansion- I wonder what other blatant errors his book contains. I was enjoying the read until I ran across this ridiculous mistake.

Such an obvious error also calls into question the efficacy of the editing.

I will continue reading the book, but with a highly skeptical eye as it relates to his command of the facts.

Preposterous.

"Public Enemies" is a an excellent book, loaded with detail and extremely readable. Burrough's unique approach to the subject matter (showing how the careers of the criminals and their pursuers intertwined over a remarkably short period of time) allows us to see ALL sides of the people and the events involved. As a result, it is neither pro-criminal nor pro-FBI -- rather it is a fascinating documentary of a remarkable time period in American history.

Public Enemies is terrific! I rarely read a book that exceeds my expectations like Bryan Burrough's completely comprehensive chronicle of the outlaw era of the 30's. My review title is not an exaggeration. One can read all about Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Bonnie and Clyde, and the other legendary crooks that terrorized America during the Depression in this one very readable narrative. There are even maps which pinpoint the location of each bandits dastardly deeds. The book also describes the formation and early struggles of the FBI under J Edgar Hoover. There are parts of the book which may be confusing because the stories of each criminal overlap due to the chronological format. It may also be difficult to keep track of the multitude of other characters involved on both sides of the law. These are minor critical points however. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the particular topic, or even the general time period of American history.

Bryan Burrough is a columnist for Vanity Fair magazine. In this book he examines the lives and infamous careers of such

notorious bank robbers, kidnappers and murderers as John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, The Barker-

Karpas game of hoodlums , Machine Gun Kelly and Bonnie and Clyde.

Burrough's chief thesis is how John Edgar Hoover and his FBI

became powerful as they learned to combat public enemies during 1933-34 from the time agents were gunned down in the Kansas City Massacre to the capture of Karpas and the deaths of severalpublic enemies.

Hoover was an egotist wise in the ways of self-promotiion as he denigrated the work of such star agents at Melvin Purvis,

Hoover's FBI made crimes against "G'Men" a federal crime and

made the agency and its formidable director a powerful force in the Washington power game for decades to come.

The book is interesting with good maps of the escapades of the criminals and pictures of the various criminal gangs. It was

easy, however, to get all the names and crimes from getting mixed up.

This book could have been edited into a series of magazine profiles but is an interesting read for anyone interested in crime, life in the Great Depression or the career of J. Edgar

Hoover.

This extensively researched book has it all - crime, sex, lies, Government cover-ups and it's all true. Burrough digs below the myth of Hoover, Dilinger, Karpis, Bonnie and Clyde to show us what it was really like an what really happened. Could not put it down.

The reviewer who calls this a pro-criminal book should have his head examined. This book replaces the cartoon characters in our heads with the names Bonnie, Clyde, Dillinger, et al, with 3-dimensional human beings, and they're not pretty. They're compelling, because they're such monsters, but this is hardly a positive portrayal of these legendary ciminals! The heroes here are the FBI, who we see learning on the job, recovering from their disastrous mistakes, and taking these criminals down in the end. I bought this book b/c I read a review in TIme that called it "massively researched and ludicrously entertaining," and boy are both true.

I truelly have enjoyed this book. It is well researched and gives a better description of the action and events that actually took place. He makes good use of The FBI Files that were released on all the Great Depression Criminals in the late 80's. The best part about is that he addresses many of the prominent gangs during this era, and he does not seperate them into different sections, he is goes in chronilogical order, telling the tales, but instead of just stickin with one gang, he goes back and forth telling how on a certain date one gang was here, while another gang was pulling a bank robbery here. It gives one a good sense of how wild and crazy the midwest was during this era, and gives life to these Dpression Era Criminal Heroes.

I enjoy the occassional historical novel. It made me want to see the movie even more. I respect the entertainment world when they portray real people. Bonnie and Cyde seemed more real to me in the book.

There is such a fascination with the characters of the book like Bonnie and Clyde, Ma Barker, and the rest. And although this book gives you that glimpse into that time and those people by bringing all the characters to life, it does an even better job of correcting myths and connecting the FBI into those times. Without overdoing the footnotes, this historical look into the early 1930s is a great way to understand how America then and now. I recommend it to everyone I meet.

I really enjoyed this book and time flew by during my reading. I felt like I was on the street watching the events unfold. I felt like a knew the criminals and the agents following them, I was actually a bit sad when Dillinger met his demise.

I had read the rave reviews and looked forward to reading this book in it's paperback edition, but I was disappointed with it. The author tried to make a story out of this book, but it reads like a list of facts. I never knew much about the public enemies in the book, only the stories in the movies or legend of the famous names but not the true story. This book has given me all of the facts and more than I was interested in. I struggled to complete it but I did complete it. It's interesting how the FBI was formed to fight this war on crime and the public enemies were certainly vicious. But it's just too long and too factual for me. This is a good book if you like reading standard history text books. It certainly has all of the facts. If I was writing a college paper on any of these public enemies, I would use this book as my source.

The abridged audio version does not do justice to this book. I have read other books by this author, and I enjoy his flowing prose and rich detail. The abridged version is disjointed and confusing. It omits so much material that it is difficult to follow the story. There are awkward pauses by the narrator. I like to listen to books while I commute, but unfortunately that is not a good option with this book. If you want to enjoy the book, I suggested reading an unabridged version.

Mr. Burrough is a talented writer. Public Enemies is very well written and he has an abundance of information within the pages of his manuscript. Any reader that states this book is a "miss" did not bother to sit down and actually read it. It is a must have for the home collection.

Public Enemies is just the book I've been waiting for on the subject of depression-era gangsters. Burrough's access to previously unpublished documents transforms the story of this fascinating era from pulp/pop into elegantly written history, and his clear prose and gift for narration make this book nearly impossible to put down. It's a delight.