Dillinger’s Wild Ride

Here is a riveting account of the year between 1933 and 1934, when the Dillinger gang pulled over a dozen bank jobs, and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars. A dozen men–police, FBI agents, gangsters, and civilians–lost their lives in the rampage, and American newspapers breathlessly followed every shooting and jail-break. Gorn illuminates the significance of Dillinger’s tremendous fame and the endurance of his legacy, arguing that he represented an American fascination with primitive freedom against social convention.