In "Public Enemies," bestselling author Bryan Burrough strips away the thick layer of myths put out by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI to tell the full story...
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Aug 28, 2011
K.D.
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Most Filipinos still look up to America as their savior. This was rooted on the fact that the US was the one that liberated the Philippines from the Japanese during World War II. The US granted the Philippines its post-war independence on July 4, 1946 in the Treaty of Manila. However, the military bases treaty was rejected by the Philippine Senate in September 1991 and so the dreams of many young men to have a chance to join the US navy just ceased. My brother was one of those who were fortunate
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Jun 11, 2011
Kemper
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The Kansas City Massacre occurred over 75 years ago, but you can still go to the renovated Union Station and see chips in the front of the building that were supposedly made by some of the bullets flying around that day. If you buy into the premise of Public Enemies, this is where the modern FBI was born. I like to imagine that years later, J. Edgar Hoover slipped into town late one night, put on one his best evening gowns and burnt some old illegal wire tap tapes on this spot as an offering t
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Oct 07, 2011
Kevin
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An in-depth look at a two-year period when Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, Ma Barker's Gang, and Machine Gun Kelly were all active. This book tells the parallel stories of this group of criminals and the FBI.
At this time, the fledgling FBI was essentially a group of lawyers, modeled after Scotland Yard, and had to work hard to catch up to the guns and cars these bank robbers were using. Predictably, J. Edgar Hoover comes off as a publicity-hungry fool who More...
At this time, the fledgling FBI was essentially a group of lawyers, modeled after Scotland Yard, and had to work hard to catch up to the guns and cars these bank robbers were using. Predictably, J. Edgar Hoover comes off as a publicity-hungry fool who More...
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Aug 03, 2009
HARD PRINT http://www.theleadmiamibeach.com/2009/07...
Public Enemies
The Film Opens This Weekend, But Have You Read the Book?
By John Hood
It’s unlikely that even the most holed-up prison escapee hasn’t heard that Michael Mann’s rip-roaring Public Enemies opened all over the country this week. I mean, this flick has more hype behind it than any ten Britney Spears records combined. It’s undoubtedly a whole lot better for you too. And if you can’t cott More...
Public Enemies
The Film Opens This Weekend, But Have You Read the Book?
By John Hood
It’s unlikely that even the most holed-up prison escapee hasn’t heard that Michael Mann’s rip-roaring Public Enemies opened all over the country this week. I mean, this flick has more hype behind it than any ten Britney Spears records combined. It’s undoubtedly a whole lot better for you too. And if you can’t cott More...
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Oct 17, 2011
Christopher
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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
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Aug 05, 2011
Checkman
rated it:
A well researched account of the crime wave that swept across the Midwestern United States in the early years of the Great Depression. In my opinion interesting for it's look at the last gasp of the colorful, daring, individualistic, outlaw criminal class.
By the early 1930's the world was changing. For or better or worse the United States Federal government was becoming more centralized and beginning to control greater resources - quickly surpassing what state and local governments co More...
By the early 1930's the world was changing. For or better or worse the United States Federal government was becoming more centralized and beginning to control greater resources - quickly surpassing what state and local governments co More...
Aug 04, 2011
Saw the movie and just had to read the book to get a better idea of the real history. It was fascinating! The author does not sympathize or glamorize the gangsters but nor does he glorify the FBI, he writes with an objective voice. The various public enemies had different personalities and motives for doing what they did. Bonnie and Clyde were a couple of bored kids with no real brains who thought nothing of shooting up innocent people and hauling in insignificant amounts of money for the th
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Aug 04, 2010
Sarah
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Normally I'm not a big non-fiction reader but when I picked up a copy of Public Enemies, saw Johnny Depp on the cover, and read the short reviews on the back I knew I had to give it a try. And I'm so very glad I did.
It took me quite awhile to slog through all 624 pages -- there were so many facts to remember and no fiction-perfect story plot to help me along -- but that doesn't mean I loved the book any less. Burrough did a heck of a job compiling facts from files and interviews and weaving tog
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Jul 07, 2010
Marsha
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I learned so much from this book! I had no idea that Baby Face Nelson, Machine Gun Kelly, John Dillinger, and Bonnie and Clyde all had their moments of fame in the same two year period of 1933-1934, not to mention a bunch of other kidnappers and bank robbers. Burroughs does a great job of documenting and narrating everything that happened concerning these criminals and how they helped to shape the formation of the FBI. At the beginning of the "War on Crime", the FBI was just an investi
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May 12, 2010
Ice
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Burrough, an award-winning financial journalist and Vanity Fair special correspondent, best known for Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco, switches gears to produce the definitive account of the 1930s crime wave that brought notorious criminals like John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde to America's front pages. Burrough's fascination with his subject matter stems from a family connection—his paternal grandfather manned a roadblock in Arkansas during the hunt for Bonnie and Clyde—and h
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Mar 09, 2010
Brian
rated it:
"Whoring, boozing, and lounging around the lake while bass fishing were pleasant enough endeavors, but none of these were reasons why Al Karpis decided on a life of crime."
As is the case with most books that become movies, the book "Public Enemies" goes into far more detail and provides more context on the turbulent years of 1933-34, a period that spawned the FBI and launched J Edgar Hoover's War on the Crime.
The film starring Johnny Depp focuses primarily More...
As is the case with most books that become movies, the book "Public Enemies" goes into far more detail and provides more context on the turbulent years of 1933-34, a period that spawned the FBI and launched J Edgar Hoover's War on the Crime.
The film starring Johnny Depp focuses primarily More...
Jan 18, 2010
Nora
rated it: 
This is a "wow" book. So much that I never understood about early 20th century America becomes clear in its pages: how much communication has changed our lives, the importance of interstate travel, and most of all the amazing tolerance for lawlessness in the history of the US that persisted much longer than I had ever suspected. This book portrays the lives of the famous gangsters of the 1930s: Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, etc., and the early FBI as it learned to
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Oct 04, 2009
Jack
rated it:
An interesting beach read for historians who want the guilty pleasure of just reading a bunch of factual reconstructions performed through meticulous archival research, with only enough of a thesis to keep the book interesting and relevant: the outlaws were a type of criminal distinct to their time, and the modern FBI was born out of the battle against them. Burrough's strength lies in his meticulous reconstruction of events, but he adds just the right touch of context/significance - with a big
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Aug 03, 2009
Steven
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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 Mafi More...
Some interesting contextual factors. Many of the "outlaws" examined were of relatively little moment compared with the gangs, the Mafi More...
Apr 21, 2009
Jason
rated it:
Now that the movie is coming out, I expect a few people may actually read this and I can discuss with someone. It's a well-researched, if sometimes slightly dry account of the great gangster crime wave that happened in America in the early 1930's which ultimately led to a great deal of violence, bloodshed, and the birth of the FBI. The movie will focus on John Dillinger, but the book is a chronological account that follows the exploits of Dillinger, Bonnie & Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face
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Apr 11, 2009
Erin
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So with summer rapidly approaching I was on IMDB the other day getting my "wish list" together...movies I'll hopefully get a chance to see in the theater. On the list was "Public Enemies", the John Dillinger (Depression-era bank robber) biopic w/ Johnny Depp & Christian Bale. IMDB said this was the book they used as a jumping-off point (because we all know what "based on a true story" really means) so I thought I'd pick it up.
That was a very long-winded More...
That was a very long-winded More...
Jul 26, 2011
Kurt
rated it:
This is one of the most entertaining history books I have ever read. Burrough does a terrific job blending the narratives for five or six criminal organizations that bounced around the United States during the Depression. He expertly summarizes tens of thousands of pages of FBI files and makes the professionalization of the FBI the common thread that drives the separate stories. It is entertaining to see the way Burrough's tone alternates between exasperated disdain for Hoover and his political
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Dec 26, 2009
Mark
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[Audio, abridged:] Interesting summary of the early 1930's era in which the FBI came into its own as it battled Dillenger, Pretty-boy Floyd, Machine Gun Kelly, Bonnie & Clyde, the Barker Gang and more. Aside from the engaging and detailed look into the lives of these folks and the officers that hunted them, the book pictures the "Federalization" of law enforcement. The '30's saw the rise of the national government as provider and protector. Given the local nature of law enforcement at
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Aug 24, 2009
F.R.
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Bryan Burrough’s book about the depression era outlaws of the US was far more interesting to me than the film it spawned (although it’s amusing that the book criticises previous films which built fantasy on the fact, and the film went and did exactly that). The narrative follows all the name crooks of the 1933/34 wave: Dillinger, Baby-Face Nelson, Pretty-Boy Floyd, Machine-Gun Kelly, The Barker-Karpis Gang and Bonnie & Clyde. It works hard to create the world they operated in and the circumstanc
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Oct 25, 2011
Darrell
rated it: 
I picked up the book because I was curious to see how closely the Michael Mann/Johnny Depp flick adhered to the public account.
Short answer to that question: not very closely, which in some ways is just as well, since the movie (not one of Mann's or Depp's better entries) is vastly more entertaining than this book. Burrough assembles a heap of resource material to piece together a very thorough account of who fired how many bullets to injure/kill whom, in order to obtain X-amount of More...
Short answer to that question: not very closely, which in some ways is just as well, since the movie (not one of Mann's or Depp's better entries) is vastly more entertaining than this book. Burrough assembles a heap of resource material to piece together a very thorough account of who fired how many bullets to injure/kill whom, in order to obtain X-amount of More...
Jul 11, 2009
Raymond
rated it:
"Public Enemies" stirs awe. There is no major character in the book which most people have not read of many times. Yet never before have all these characters, together with their families and girl friends, plus the lawmen who pursued them, been brought together with stories of their lives and crimes, their origins and their travels. It is to Burrough's great credit that he was not daunted. A criminal society equipped with sub-machine guns and swift autos had come to exist which indeed
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May 08, 2009
Rae
rated it:
A film adaptation of this book is coming out this summer, so I thought I'd try to get through it before the movie hit theaters. I thought it might take me a while, since I typically don't find myself enraptured by nonficiton.
Wrong.
I tore through this book in three days, completely captivated by the stories of America's first major-league criminals. John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, Bonnie and Clyde, and the Barkers are all covered, and I learned quite a More...
Wrong.
I tore through this book in three days, completely captivated by the stories of America's first major-league criminals. John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, Bonnie and Clyde, and the Barkers are all covered, and I learned quite a More...
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Jul 11, 2011
Josh
rated it:
Interesting to learn that the source information the authour used for this book had only recently been de-classified. Even though you have been hearing stories and seeing movies about John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd, this is the real story.
It is funny to see the Feds and the Gangsters making major goof-ups. The big shoot outs are great reads.
The book is WAY better than the movie. It is ironic that the book makes a big point about how Melvin Pur More...
It is funny to see the Feds and the Gangsters making major goof-ups. The big shoot outs are great reads.
The book is WAY better than the movie. It is ironic that the book makes a big point about how Melvin Pur More...
Oct 01, 2009
Elena
rated it:
Magnífico estudio de la llamada 'Gran Guerra' contra el crimen. Trata sobre todo de la oleada de robos a bancos y secuestros de 1933-1934, y el autor sigue a las principales bandas del momento. Aunque relata todos los avatares de las cuatro o cinco bandas más importantes, el mayor número de detalles los dedica a John Dillinger, el prototipo de fuera de la ley de la época. Y a pesar de que se queja de la cierta 'glamurización' que ya en su época tuvo y que siguió en libros y películas posteriores
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Dec 14, 2009
Robert
rated it:
Spectacular account of the most famous Depression era criminals and how they moulded the FBI. It was a frustrating read as well. To see the FBI in such an infant state runs counter to how I've always seen them since I've been aware of their organization. Their early mistakes and arrogance gets frustrating and laughable. It's so near a comedy of errors on the level of Keystone Kops that I feel sorry for these green agents just exiting law school, given a gun and put directly into the line of
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Sep 19, 2009
Ruka
rated it:
The author boasts rather self-importantly in the introduction that this is the first definitive narrative of the wave of crime that cut a swath across the United States in the years immediately following the start of the Great Depression. As obsequious as this sounds, it's true; the FBI only recently declassified the bulk of its files concerning their pursuit of John Dillinger, the Barker gang, Baby Face Nelson and others; previous attempts at chronicling the events between 1933 and 1934 have b
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May 08, 2009
Carly
rated it:
Crime. That's a theme in the books that I have been reading this year. Atwood's Alias Grace, crime novel. Choke? Definitely has seedy elements that should be crimes. American Psycho, check. Maltese Falcon, check.
Anyway, sometimes it's interested to examine the types of books that you read. :)
This book was great. I will say that while I was reading this, I knew it was going to be a movie with my fav actor, Johnny Depp, and that might have influenced my feelings fo More...
Anyway, sometimes it's interested to examine the types of books that you read. :)
This book was great. I will say that while I was reading this, I knew it was going to be a movie with my fav actor, Johnny Depp, and that might have influenced my feelings fo More...
Jul 12, 2011
James
rated it:
Crime, drama, history and the founding of the FBI. If you like reading about the rise of J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI and the notorious criminals they tracked such as Baby Face Nelson, John Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd than read this. The story offers plenty of excitement in the detective element and tension with the young FBI agents most of whom are kids in their early 20's fresh out of school given automatic tommy guns with little training and told to pursue and capture seasoned, dangerous cr
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Jul 30, 2009
Paul
rated it:
Where to start? I can honestly say I've seldom enjoyed a book more. "Public Enemies" is a great series of brilliantly interwoven narratives about the good guys and bad guys who fought the legendary 1933-1935 "War on Crime." They're all here: Dillinger and Hoover; Bonnie and Clyde; Baby Face Nelson and Melvin Purvis; Pretty Boy Floyd and the G-Men.
The real beauty of Burrough's book lies in sheer storytelling genius, combined with a scholarly level of research muc More...
The real beauty of Burrough's book lies in sheer storytelling genius, combined with a scholarly level of research muc More...
Apr 17, 2010
Mark
rated it:
When I first started reading the book, it launched right into the narrative of a shootout with Bonny and Clyde, then the next chapter started right in the middle of another narrative and I thought this was a lousy book: no sense of structure. As it turned out, it didn't load onto my iPod in the correct error. Starting over at the beginning, it was a much better book; imagine that! It is a fascinating story that doesn't in any way glorify the bad guys, nor cannonize the FBI. Interestingly, Reno i
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