A groundbreaking work with powerful echoes in todays news, Burroughs account of Americas greatest crime wave and the birth of the FBI is the definitive history of Americas first war on crime. Black-and-white photo insert. nIn Public Enemies, bestselling author Bryan Burrough strips away the thick layer of myths put out by J. Edgar Hoovers 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 Hoovers G-men overcame their early fumbles to secure the FBIs rise to power.
