Johnnie D : The Story of John Dillinger

By Arthur Winfield Knight

Book Overview

John Dillinger's reign as Public Enemy #1 began at the height of the depression. Banks were closing and millions of Americans were losing their life savings. Dillinger's act made him a sort of hero, a modern day Robin Hood. He would go on to rob ten banks and break out of two jails. Everything he did, whether it be firing a Tommy gun or relieving smitten bank tellers of the cash in their vaults, he did it with style.Brought to life by Arthur Winfield Knight through the magic of fiction, the voices of the past emerge to vividly recount the renegade's story. Sixty-five years after Dillinger's death, Knight proves that his story is still the most charged and gutsy of the 1920's.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031286759X
• ISBN13: 9780312867591
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Forge
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.7" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Dillinger is just plain fun

This book takes a look at the highlights of John Dillinger's criminal career from the perspective of his loves, his fellow gang members and the law enforcement officials who saught after him as well as Dillinger himself. While the book is well written and linear in events, it is a mostly fictional first hand account of conversations and detailed events from the lives of these infamous criminals. We all like to fantasize on what really happened in all the blank spaces, and the author did an excellent job of filling in those blanks we are so curious about. If you can read this book with that perspective, you'll enjoy every page. I have read numerous articles and books regarding the Dillinger Gang and I love it that the characters are shown as "real people" rather than over sensationalized as either crooks or robin hoods of the depression era. Its a fun read! Especially if you spend too much time reading historical, dry documents.

Dillinger comes to life on these pages

031286759X In 1933, John Dillinger, public enemy number one captures the fancy of depression America. He becomes a hero as he robs ten banks over the course of a year. Jails don't seem to hold him as he escapes from the seemingly impossible containment area that prisons are supposed to be. Since banks seem only to foreclose during that era, people worship Dillinger as a modern day Robin Hood. He becomes more heroic by the day as the flamboyant criminal turns the FBI and other law enforcement officials into the Keystone Cops, that is until that fatal day when the Lady in Red sets him up to die in a heroic shoot-out. THE STORY OF JOHNNY D is a fabulous biography that more than just highlights the life, especially the last year, of John Dillinger. The book places his rise to fame inside a period piece that shows why Johnny D is popular and bankers and FBI agents are not. Dillinger's genuine exploits read like an Errol Flynn tale adding to the Depression Era feel. Arthur Winfield Knight, author of THE SECRET LIFE OF JESSE JAMES, makes biographies as much fun to read as the TV series makes them to watch.Harriet Klausner