Inventing the Public Enemy: The Gangster in American Culture, 1918-1934

by David E. Ruth

In this richly detailed account of mass media images, David Ruth looks at Al Capone and other "invented" gangsters of the 1920s and 1930s. The subject of innumerable newspaper and magazine articles, scores of novels, and hundreds of Hollywood movies, the gangster was a compelling figure for Americans preoccupied with crime and the social turmoil it symbolized. Ruth shows that the media gangster was less a reflection of reality than a projection created from Americans' values, concerns, and ideas about what would sell.

We see efficient criminal executives demonstrating the multifarious uses of organization; dapper, big-spending gangsters highlighting the promises and perils of the emerging consumer society; and gunmen and molls guiding an uncertain public through the shifting terrain of modern gender roles. In this fascinating study, Ruth reveals how the public enemy provides a far-ranging critique of modern culture.

Genres: History

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Dr. David E. Ruth is a professor of history at Pennsylvania State University.

Reviews

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

""In reading crime news, people recognize and use the moral tale within the story to orient themselves toward existential dilemmas they cannot help but confront."...the criminal is a rich cultural resource men and women use to understand and shape their worlds." pg 4.

Who knew? This is good stuff.

[Andrew Lambert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great anthropological look at 1920s - 30s American culture through the creation of the gangster.