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Legal Figures, Law Enforcers, & Criminals, United States History - Midwestern Region, True Crime
Capone : The Man and the Era by Laurence Bergreen β€” book cover

Capone : The Man and the Era

by Laurence Bergreen
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Overview

In this brilliant history of Prohibition and its most notorious gangster, acclaimed biographer Laurence Bergreen takes us to the gritty streets of Chicago where Al Capone forged his sinister empire. Bergreen shows the seedy and glamorous sides of the age, the rise of Prohibition, the illicit liquor trade, the battlefield that was Chicago. Delving beyond the Capone mythology. Bergreen finds a paradox: a coldblooded killer, thief, pimp, and racketeer who was also a devoted son and father; a self-styled Robin Hood who rose to the top of organized crime. Capone is a masterful portrait of an extraordinary time and of the one man who reigned supreme over it all, Al Capone.

The bestselling author of James Agee and As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin now presents a sweeping portrait of a notorious gangster--the founding father of organized crime as we know it--and of the turbulent times that created him and, eventually, destroyed him. 16 pages of photos.

About the Author, Laurence Bergreen

Laurence Bergreen is the author of two previous biographies, James Agee and As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin. He lives in New York City.

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Editorials

From the Publisher


Richard Gid Powers The Washington Post Book World Laurence Bergreen's beautifully crafted biography of Capone transcends the true-crime genre to become a masterful study of a major figure in American history....This is a great story with all the trimmings.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Biography of the legendary prohibition-era gangster. (Aug.)

Library Journal

In the wake of Robert J. Schoenberg's Mr. Capone (LJ 8/92), called "the most detailed biography of Capone published to date" by LJ's reviewer, comes an even more detailed account based on extensive research and interviews. Bergreen, who has written biographies of James Agee and Irving Berlin, has "abandoned conventional assumptions of...right and wrong" in his sympathetic portrayal of the one-time Public Enemy Number One. He blames the hypocrisies of Prohibition and anti-Italian bias for creating Capone's undeserved reputation, and he is especially critical of Capone nemesis Eliot Ness. Bergreen labels the tax evasion trial that sent Capone to prison a "legalistic lynching" and tends to excuse Capone's more unsavory actions as the results of "latent neurosyphilis." However controversial, this book offers much of interest, including new information about Capone and his family. Larger crime collections will want both books.-Gregor A. Preston, Univ. of California Lib., Davis

Book Details

Published
August 1, 1996
Publisher
Simon & Schuster
Pages
704
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780684824475

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