In Public Enemies, bestselling author Bryan Burrough strips away the thick layer of myths put out by J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI to tell the full story—for the first time—of the most spectacular crime wave in American history, the two-year battle between the young Hoover and the assortment of criminals who became national icons: John Dillinger, Machine Gun Kelly, Bonnie and Clyde, Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd, and the Barkers. In an epic feat of storytelling and drawing on a remarkable amount of newly available material on all the major figures involved, Burrough reveals a web of interconnections within the vast American underworld and demonstrates how Hoover’s G-men overcame their early fumbles to secure the FBI’s rise to power.

The international publishing sensation is now available in the United States—two brilliant, controversial authors confront each other and their enemies in an unforgettable exchange of letters. In one corner, Bernard-Henri Lévy, creator of the classic Barbarism with a Human Face, dismissed by the media as a wealthy, self-promoting, arrogant do-gooder. In the other, Michel Houellebecq, bestselling author of The Elementary Particles, widely derided as a sex-obsessed racist and misogynist. What began as a secret correspondence between bitter enemies evolved into a remarkable joint personal meditation by France’s premier literary and political live wires. An instant international bestseller, Public Enemies has now been translated into English for all lovers of superb insights, scandalous opinions, and iconoclastic ideas. In wicked, wide-ranging, and freewheeling letters, the two self-described “whipping boys” debate whether they crave disgrace or secretly have an insane desire to please. Lévy extols heroism in the face of tyranny; Houellebecq sees himself as one who would “fight little and badly.” Lévy says “life does not ‘live’” unless he can write; Houellebecq bemoans work as leaving him in such “a state of nervous exhaustion that it takes several bottles of alcohol to get out.” There are also touching and intimate exchanges on the existence of God and about their own families. Dazzling, delightful, and provocative, Public Enemies is a death match between literary lions, remarkable men who find common ground, confident that, in the end (as Lévy puts it), “it is we who will come out on top.”

The early history of the FBI, heavy emphasis on fingerprinting and how it began to be heavily used in the 1920's & 1930's. Mentions: Al Capone, Alvin Karpis, Machine Gun Kelly, Clyde Barrow, Pretty Boy Floyd, John Dillinger, and Baby Face Nelson.

Offers examples and insights into the "school to prison' pipeline phenomenon, showing how disciplinary regulations, pedagogy, pop culture and more not only implicitly advance, but actually normalize an expectation of incarceration for urban youth.

Public Enemies, book two of the Immortal Game series, is a darkly fantastic, heart-pounding book by Ann Aguirre, the New York Times- and USA Today-bestselling author of the Razorland series. Learn the rules of the game . . . and then play better than anyone else. Through a Faustian bargain, Edie Kramer has been pulled into the dangerous world of the Immortal Game, where belief makes your nightmares real. Hungry for sport, fears-made-flesh are always raising the stakes. To them, human lives are less than nothing, just pieces on a board. Because of her boyfriend Kian’s sacrifice, she’s operating under the mysterious Harbinger’s aegis, but his patronage could prove as fatal as the opposition. Raw from deepest loss, she’s terrified over the deal Kian made for her. Though her very public enemies keep sending foot soldiers—mercenary monsters committed to her destruction—she’s not the one playing under a doom clock. Kian has six months, unless Edie can save him. And this is a game she can’t bear to lose. "Should particularly appeal to fans of Ilsa Bick's "The Dark Passages" series and Mary Weber's "The Storm Siren" trilogy. . . . This engaging nightmare will make even mature horror readers check under the bed at night." -School Library Journal "The world-building that creates the dark and suspenseful atmosphere for this story is in full swing, and readers will enjoy the larger glimpses into the underworld. The romance between Edie and Kian is also heating up, and Edie gets the opportunity to act as his guardian. . . . The plot is fast paced and leads to a suspenseful ending." -VOYA

Paperback: "With a bonus chapter: John Walsh at Ground Zero."

In the Australia of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, armed robbers were the top of the criminal food chain. Their dash and violence were celebrated, and men like Russell 'Mad Dog' Cox and Ray Denning were household names long before Underbelly established Melbourne's gangland thugs as celebrities. Cox and Denning were once Australian Public Enemies Number One and Two. Both were handsome, charismatic bandits who refused to bow to authority. Both were classified as 'intractable' in prison, and both escaped. Cox was the only man to escape from Katingal, Australia's only 'escape-proof' jail. Soon after he broke out, he tried to break in again and rescue his mates. Their story is one of violence and crime, but it is also about the unimaginable horrors that young boys faced when condemned to 'institutions' in the 1960s, and the terrible conditions in Australian jails in the 70s and 80s. These were the hells where a whole generation of armed robbers was forged. Mark Dapin brings his brilliant research skills and distinctive, powerful narrative style to a book that explores the life of these infamous yet respected public enemies and the criminal world they inhabited. From armed robberies, shootings and bashings to prison floggings and jail breaks, this is the gritty, page-turning reality behind the headlines.

The host of America's Most Wanted, John Walsh has formed a vital partnership with the public, the media, and law enforcement that has led to the capture of hundreds of the worst serial killers, kidnappers, pedophiles, and rapists of our time. In Public Enemies he reveals the cost -- the blood, sweat, and tears -- behind the relentless pursuit of hard justice, in such infamous cases as: Kyle Bell: A lifelong sexual predator whose madness culminated in the slaying of an eleven-year-old North Dakota girl. Bell was one of the only fugitives AMW had to capture twice -- and his case stirred more outrage than any other broadcast in AMW's history. Kathleen Soliah: This accused Symbionese Liberation Army terrorist disappeared in 1969 only to resurface twenty-five years later as suburban housewife and soccer mom Sara Jane Olson. Her arrest, following AMW's profile of Soliah and her former SLA partner James Kilgore, incited a stunning controversy. Rafael Resendez-Ramirez: aka The Railroad Killer. A sociopathic drifter, he rode the Texas rails, stopping only to rape and kill. His case was first brought to the public eye by AMW, and it was a secret call to the program's hot line that ultimately led to his surrender. In those and other gripping true-crime profiles, John Walsh exposes the behind-the-scenes drama of the groundbreaking show, and what actually unfolds between the crimes and the captures -- the vital leads from strangers, the dangerous manhunts, the developments cut from the AMW broadcasts, and the dogged investigations by authorities. He divulges stunning lapses in the judicial process that release monsters to the streets time and again. He takes readers inside the hearts and souls of the grieving families, and gives eyewitness accounts of the dramatic final moments when fugitives are finally taken down. An outspoken and unstoppable crusader, John Walsh ignites Public Enemies with righteous anger and gut-level emotion. But his heartfelt motto echoes throughout: I truly believe, with all my heart and soul, that together we can make a difference. It's a conviction Walsh offers as inspiration to the innocents affected by crime, and to all who feel powerless in the face of unfathomable evil.

“Full of schadenfreude and speculation—and solid, timely history too.” —Kirkus Reviews “This is a portrait of capitalism as white-knuckle risk taking, yielding fruitful discoveries for the fathers, but only sterile speculation for the sons—a story that resonates with today's economic upheaval.” —Publishers Weekly “What's not to enjoy about a book full of monstrous egos, unimaginable sums of money, and the punishment of greed and shortsightedness?” —The Economist Phenomenal reviews and sales greeted the hardcover publication of The Big Rich, New York Times bestselling author Bryan Burrough's spellbinding chronicle of Texas oil. Weaving together the multigenerational sagas of the industry's four wealthiest families, Burrough brings to life the men known in their day as the Big Four: Roy Cullen, H. L. Hunt, Clint Murchison, and Sid Richardson, all swaggering Texas oil tycoons who owned sprawling ranches and mingled with presidents and Hollywood stars. Seamlessly charting their collective rise and fall, The Big Rich is a hugely entertaining account that only a writer with Burrough's abilities-and Texas upbringing-could have written.

Analyzes Depression-era bank robbery and its most notorious figures, discussing the factors that influenced the period's crime rates, the formation and early work of the FBI, and the contributions of J. Edgar Hoover.