PUBLIC ENEMIES America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34

Campbell Scott’s careful reading effectively documents the fledgling FBI’s handling of the 1933-34 crime wave, which brought great public recognition to the organization and established J. Edgar Hoover as the nation’s #1 law enforcer, a position he maintained for over forty years. Many of the criminals Burrough portrays--Baby Face Nelson, Machine Gun Kelly, Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger, and Pretty Boy Floyd--became household names. Their deeds, while occasionally comic, were mostly cruel, bloody, and deadly. The bitter reality of the Depression era is movingly depicted as both Hoover and the mythic character of the FBI he created are soundly debunked. L.C. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC 04/ JAN 05]