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263rd out of 277 books
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262 voters
A Case for Solomon: Bobby Dunbar and the Kidnapping That Haunted a Nation
by
Tal McThenia,
Margaret Dunbar Cutright (Goodreads Author)
A CASE FOR SOLOMON: BOBBY DUNBAR AND THE KIDNAPPING THAT HAUNTED A NATION
chronicles one of the most celebrated—and most misunderstood—kidnapping cases in American history. In 1912, four-year-old Bobby Dunbar, the son of an upper-middle-class Louisiana family, went missing in the swamps. After an eight-month search that electrified the country and destroyed Bobby’s parent...more
Hardcover, 464 pages
Published
August 14th 2012
by Free Press
(first published January 10th 2012)
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A Case For Solomon: Bobby Dunbar and the Kidnapping That Haunted a Nation by Tal McThenia and Margaret Dunbar Cutright (Free Press 2012)(364.154) tells of a true historical mystery. It is the story of one of the most disturbing kidnapping cases in American history. In 1912 in Louisiana, four-year-old Bobby Dunbar went missing from a family picnic. After an eight-month search that captivated the nation, the boy was found in the backwoods of Mississippi in the company of an itinerant tinker / pian...more
Fascinating topic; needed better execution. A story of a real-life kidnapping from 1912; a child disappears on a family camping trip in Louisiana and turns up 8 months later in the company of a traveling handyman, who swears that the boy is not the missing child, but was knowingly given to him by another woman, the boy's real mother. The boy was raised by the family who "lost" him, but for the rest of his life questions persist about his true identity.
A fascinating story about the nature of iden...more
A fascinating story about the nature of iden...more
It is rare that I find a book just completely and totally riveting. This one I had difficulty putting down; I found myself reading "just one more" page as I was wearing my coat and just about to head out the door, almost late for an appointment. Granted, that only happened twice because I finished the whole thing in under two days. I had heard the "This American Life" story, "The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar," so I ALREADY KNEW what was going to happen. And yet I still felt a little breathless reading...more
I received this book from GoodReads in hardback.
It would have been much better with better editing. I feel that this book is too drawn out and repetitious for me to recommend it. I thought I would never get done and only finished it because I wanted to know which mother this little boy belonged with; and I refuse to ever read the ending of a book before reading the rest. I could see that the proof and the trial were what the author apparently wanted to dwell on. However, I feel more attention s...more
It would have been much better with better editing. I feel that this book is too drawn out and repetitious for me to recommend it. I thought I would never get done and only finished it because I wanted to know which mother this little boy belonged with; and I refuse to ever read the ending of a book before reading the rest. I could see that the proof and the trial were what the author apparently wanted to dwell on. However, I feel more attention s...more
How much would you be willing to do to get your son back? On a family picnic/camping trip the Dunbar family lost their young four year old son Bobby. One minute he was there, and the next he had disappeared. Unfortunately no body was ever found so closure was never an option. What ensued was one of the largest manhunts ever seen as they scoured the entire south for little Bobby, ultimately finding a little boy in the possession of a vagabond piano tuner.
Claiming they had found their son the Dun...more
Claiming they had found their son the Dun...more
This is one of those books that sticks with you for a while. I was horrified to learn the role the press played in this whole fiasco. We really have not learned from past mistakes. When Bobby Dunbar went missing, no stone was left unturned. Yet when a boy was found who was similar in looks, the press was there to “get the story”. I felt like they were willing to make the story fit a happy ending no matter what.
My sympathies went to Julia Anderson who had no resources due to her financial circum...more
My sympathies went to Julia Anderson who had no resources due to her financial circum...more
A fascinating book about the case of the kidnapped Robert Dunbar as a young child. In the days before DNA testing, the boy ultimately found was claimed by Percy and Lessie Dunbar as there missing boy, found with a wandering handiman by the name of Walters. Walters story was of a unwed mother in North Carolina's child that he had with him. Hence, the Solomon referal. Two mothers claimed him, one married, with means and a community behind her, and a poor mother who had already had to give up for a...more
Fascinating story, lots of historical detail, takes place 1912, about a boy who was lost age, 4, in a swamp near Apalousa, Louisiana and what ensues,heard the gist of the true story first on radio. This book was a good read though some parts of the various commentary or public record of the public hearings and trial of the tinker accused of kidnapping got tedious in the telling. The historical context and sense of the period of the early 1900's in the Deep South was very well depicted through le...more
There are few stories the degree of compelling emotion than this one... two mothers, two little boys, both missing, only one is found. But who can claim the the prize?
Told with a reporter's eye for detail, this doesn't read like a novel - rather a Dateline episode, perhaps. Its portrayal of the characters reveals them to be not characters at all, but people. This is a painful story. As a mother, my heart broke for both women, having lost their sons. I was angry at the injustice, and I was torn...more
Told with a reporter's eye for detail, this doesn't read like a novel - rather a Dateline episode, perhaps. Its portrayal of the characters reveals them to be not characters at all, but people. This is a painful story. As a mother, my heart broke for both women, having lost their sons. I was angry at the injustice, and I was torn...more
First, I should note that I received this book for free from First Reads through Good Reads. In the spirit of First Reads I'll do my best to capture my thoughts about the book.
I commend the authors for the exhaustive research they did for this book. Prior to entering the drawing for the book I had never heard of this particular kidnapping and was interested to see how well such an event could be presented so long after the fact. The authors clearly spent a great deal of time doing research and i...more
I commend the authors for the exhaustive research they did for this book. Prior to entering the drawing for the book I had never heard of this particular kidnapping and was interested to see how well such an event could be presented so long after the fact. The authors clearly spent a great deal of time doing research and i...more
Despite (or partially because of?) the appalling descriptions of the justice system in the Southern United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, this was a compelling read. The authors do an excellent job at presenting facts objectively, while still helping the reader to understand the atmosphere and perceptions of the time. By the time DNA testing is introduced, at the very end of the book, I had made up my mind about the identity of Bobby Dunbar/Bruce Anderson. In modern s...more
Received as an ARC from the publisher. Will be published in August. A 4-year-old boy wanders away from his family's picnic in Louisiana on August 23, 1912. A search ensues with no luck. News releases are made. Sightings are reported all over the South. An itinerant tinker is apprehended with a young boy in April, 1913. The boy's parents aren't sure it's their son due to the passage of time. Then another woman claims he's her son. Thus begins an ordeal made for King Solomon to resolve. Competitiv...more
It is almost hard to believe the type of reporting - and even the legal system that existed at the time of this book - early 1900's. At least one hopes it is not that way now! Fascinating study on what happened to a family, researched and written by one of the granddaughters of Bobby Dunbar. I enjoyed reading this even though it had to be gleaned from newspapers, documents, stories handed down, well after the actual players are long gone. An amazing job of reporting - and an amazing look at the...more
I review “A Case for Solomon: Bobby Dunbar and the Kidnapping that Haunted a Nation”
...more
Authors Tal McThenia and Margaret Dunbar Cutright piece together their tale from sometimes-dubious newspaper stories, reporters’ and stenographers’ notes, family letters, and other surviving official documents. And they succeed in pulling together a fascinating narrative about an ostensible kidnapping and a 90-year case of mistaken identity, fully steeped in the flavor of the era. Theirs is a narrative about the
This is definitely not a book I would consider an easy read. There is so much history, background, and detail given to every aspect. It's the story of 4 year old Bobby Dunbar who is kidnapped and missing for eight months. What I don't understand is how there can be any question or doubt in the minds of the parents as to whether or not he's their missing son. Confusion for him, yes. He's a small child, he's been traumatized. And then to find out there's another child and all I can think of is wha...more
In 1912 a 4 year old boy disappears while on a camping trip with his parents in Louisiana. 8 months later a tinker with a boy the same age is picked up in Mississippi. The tinker claims the boy, Bruce Anderson, is the child of a woman in North Carolina and he has permission to take the child to visit relatives.
I found myself so absorbed in the beginning of the book. Then the book became tedious as witness after witness on each side was brought forth to identify the child. Once the trial of the...more
I found myself so absorbed in the beginning of the book. Then the book became tedious as witness after witness on each side was brought forth to identify the child. Once the trial of the...more
This is a real life story with roots in Louisiana, Mississippi, and North Carolina. It is a story of love and need of two mothers who claim a child as theirs. Each mother had different backgrounds but each had love for the child, and each wanted and needed to be his mother. Life for the child, Bobby Dunbar, was a difficult journey in which he wondered who he was. The book follows Bobby from a child to a man with a family of his own. The choices he made and the man he became. There are three prma...more
An interesting story.
A sad story.
I commend the authors for their extensive research, unfortunately, the tedious, tiresome, insignificant trivia tangled and confused the details. By mid-book, I was exhausted; worn to a raveling. Surely, the behemoth of biographic references could have been edited and presented in a sensible manner.
Two lost little boys.
My heart ached for Bruce... the horrific ordeal he had to indure to become the manifestation of Bobby. My heart broke for (the real) Bobby, the...more
A sad story.
I commend the authors for their extensive research, unfortunately, the tedious, tiresome, insignificant trivia tangled and confused the details. By mid-book, I was exhausted; worn to a raveling. Surely, the behemoth of biographic references could have been edited and presented in a sensible manner.
Two lost little boys.
My heart ached for Bruce... the horrific ordeal he had to indure to become the manifestation of Bobby. My heart broke for (the real) Bobby, the...more
I received this book from Goodreads first reads. I found this book hard to get through, it felt very slow going. But, from a genealogist point of view, I can appreciate the time and dedication that the author put into the research for the story of her grandfather. It's amazing the role the press played in this story. And the legal teams... it seems they were clueless in how to handle the case. All the so called "examinations" this child went through in front of so many different people. I didn't...more
A Case for Solomon: Bobby Dunbar and the Kidnapping That Haunted a Nation by Tal McThenia and Margaret Dunbar Cutright is a fascinating look at a 1912 case of a missing little boy named Bobby Dunbar. Months later, a little boy who resembled Bobby is found with a traveling tinker named Walters. Is this Bobby Dunbar, or as the man claimed, Bruce Anderson?
The book recalls the facts and perceptions from the day that Bobby goes missing, through him being found, and ultimately the court case that led...more
The book recalls the facts and perceptions from the day that Bobby goes missing, through him being found, and ultimately the court case that led...more
With the exception of a few of the "Greatest Generation" still alive in their 90's, Americans of the 21st Century have never lived in an America without a Middle Class. A Case for Solomon is a unique story of two mothers who have lost their sons, in itself a compelling story, but the real value lies in the portrayal of an America without a Middle Class and the devastating effect on women such a world has. It is a "Randian" world of the South that makes Faulkner's Yoknapawtha County hill people i...more
Generally engaging; extremely thorough. McThenia and Cutright researched countless articles, newspapers, and court records--the scale is rather impressive. Although you are more or less given the outcome in the introduction, the authors do a good job of keeping the story balanced. I was not entirely convinced until quite late in the text. Keeping track of the characters can be tough, but there is handy guide in the front. The authors generally invoke sympathy for most all characters, although th...more
"A Case for Solomon: Bobby Dunbar and the Kidnapping That Haunted a Nation" is an excellent true story of a man who as a child was dragged through events mysterious, tramatic, and harrowing who became someone most of us can simily admire. Tal McThenia and Margaret Dunbar Cutright spent years researching this incrediable story of a child lost and a man selfmade. It is also book of a nation divided by a very personal story and the indictment the powerful use of the press to sway public opinion in...more
Like most readers of this book --I assume-- I first became acquainted with the Dunbar case through This American Life. I listened to the episode in 2008 and remembered it very clearly, firstly because I believe it to be one of the best episodes they have ever produced, but also because I traveled to Opelousas for a family wedding just a few months later. So I jumped at the opportunity to read this book, a more expanded analysis written by the producers of the show. (Which includes one family mem...more
Dec 13, 2012
Deborah Daigneault
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
True Crime Readers with a lot of patience and a photographic memory
A case for Solomon: is a recap of a missing child case that took place in the South during the 1930's.it's a tragic case of a 4 yr old who dissappeared while surrounded by family and the increasingly bizarre turns the search for him took. At the time it happened, newspaper's in an effort to report the "fact's" and increase circulation reported every "tip" and sighting, which led the family and investigators on wild goose chases leading to dead ends,and several near "misses".When the boy is event...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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I received this book as a first-reads copy. It is not a book that I would normally pick-up, but I'm glad I read it. The story is fascinating. The authors do a good job of giving fair treatment to all perspectives of the events that surrounded the disappearance of the two boys. The role the media played in the unfolding of these events was really interesting. I do feel, however, that the book could have used more editing. The painstaking detail, while impressive from a researcher's perspective, w...more
After hearing a book review on A Case for Solomon, I had to read it! It is nonfiction, about a child who went missing in 1912 and the lengthy search for him. A child was found with a drifter, and the book relays the search, the finding of a child, and the heartbreaking events that led to a trial. The story relies on newspaper articles and headlines, as well as legal documents. This case has finally been truly solved.....after a hundred years!
This was an interesting, factual account of a kidnapping 100 yrs ago in Louisiana. This book had been recommended in a North Carolina magazine (Our State).
Although, even at the end of the book, there are still questions. The major question was of course recently answered with DNA. The story seemed to keep the reader guessing, but in my opinion...DON'T look at the pictures in the book, as without a doubt, I guessed the answer simply by comparing two pictures side by side.
Although, even at the end of the book, there are still questions. The major question was of course recently answered with DNA. The story seemed to keep the reader guessing, but in my opinion...DON'T look at the pictures in the book, as without a doubt, I guessed the answer simply by comparing two pictures side by side.
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“I know who I am, and I know who you are, and nothing else matters. it's how we live our life.”
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