The Newberry Library (Venue Partner)
60 W Walton St
312.943.9090
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Books: Reading
Elliott J. Gorn: Dillinger's Wild Ride: The Year That Made America's Public Enemy Number One
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Elliott J. Gorn, Dillinger's Wild Ride: The Year That Made America's Public Enemy Number One
- When
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Tuesday July 7, 2009 (6pm)
- Where
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Directions: The Newberry Library is located at 60 West Walton Street, Chicago, IL, directly across from Chicago’s famed Washington Square Park and just a few blocks west of Michigan Avenue.
- Price
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Between 1933 and 1934, John Dillinger and his crew of ne'er-do-well gangsters robbed over a dozen Midwest banks — making off with hundreds of thousands of dollars and gunning down any roadblocks along the way. But in his new book, Dillinger's Wild Ride: The Year That Made America's Public Enemy Number One, Brown University's Elliott Gorn recounts how Dillinger's Robin Hood-like rip-offs of cash-flush banks (a thrilling idea to the impoverished masses during the Great Depression) were met with almost romantic mythologizing in the media. He may have been "the most dangerous man in America," but his fearless swagger and daring helped make him a folk hero who captured the public's imagination — and an enduring outlaw legend (see: Johnny Depp's new Public Enemies).
