cover image Robbing Banks: An American History, 1831-1999

Robbing Banks: An American History, 1831-1999

Lawrence R. Kirchner, L. R. Kirchner. Da Capo Press, $24.95 (248pp) ISBN 978-1-885119-64-3

A journalist who formerly worked in law enforcement, Kirchner (Triple Crossfire) presents a colorful, comprehensive account of ""the fine art of illegally removing capital from a financial institution,"" our peculiar fascination with some of the most notorious bank robbers and the technical realities of this crime from both sides of the law. In so doing, he offers many insights into such matters as the difference between burglary and robbery (the former relies on stealth and skill, the latter involves the face-to-face confrontations of popular myth) and the strange psychology of the bank-robbing personality. Though his tone can be stern, the author displays some ambivalence regarding both the ""banking business"" and and the efficacy of the penal system. As for the robbers, while he condemns amateur incompetence and the excessive violence displayed by figures like Clyde Barrow, he finds intriguing, on many levels, the ingenuity, discipline and insouciance displayed by successful, pioneering bandits, from the James gang to Willie Sutton, the famed ""gentleman"" robber of 1940s New York. For instance, the ""common man,"" he says, often sided with the romanticized bandits, because of deep-seated class resentments against bankers and robber barons, particularly during Reconstruction and the Depression. J. Edgar Hoover's obsession at that time with outlaws like ""Pretty Boy"" Floyd proved influential in involving the federal government in bank-robbery prevention, signaling the twilight of old-style desperadoes. Kirchner concludes this solid, well-executed assessment with succinct depictions of post-modern larceny, including the current threats of computerized robbery via wire transfer, illustrating that the crafty and avaricious will forever strike, as Willie Sutton famously put it, ""where the money is."" 16 pages of illus.not seen by PW. (Oct.)