I'm a quarter through the new B&C book by Jeff Guinn. Really good. He manages to make you realize the desperation and hopeless situation of dirt poor farmers in the early 30's, but at the same time you never sympathize with Bonnie & Clyde. What a couple worthless pieces of ****. When they got gunned down (oops! I gave away the ending!) it was no diff. than some lawmen swatting a couple of flies. Or scraping dog **** off the bottom of society's shoe. Clyde was a criminal retard, but, I think he really was good with guns. He didn't have to be, though, as most his victims were unarmed and comepletly caught off guard. Excellent book. Makes me want to run out and buy a BAR, a hacksaw, and a long coat. Can't forget the rubber sling. Whipit! Whipit good!

I'm a quarter through the new B&C book by Jeff Guinn. Really good. He manages to make you realize the desperation and hopeless situation of dirt poor farmers in the early 30's, but at the same time you never sympathize with Bonnie & Clyde. What a couple worthless pieces of ****. When they got gunned down (oops! I gave away the ending!) it was no diff. than some lawmen swatting a couple of flies. Or scraping dog **** off the bottom of society's shoe. Clyde was a criminal retard, but, I think he really was good with guns. He didn't have to be, though, as most his victims were unarmed and comepletly caught off guard. Excellent book. Makes me want to run out and buy a BAR, a hacksaw, and a long coat. Can't forget the rubber sling. Whipit! Whipit good!

when i was a youngster my old man told me stories of the gangsters of the 30's. he was born in '18 and grew up during the depression. he said the gangsters exploits were broadcast far and wide in the press. the common worker who was having a hard time making ends meet would read the papers and cheer for the robin hood idea that the gangster tried to imply by taking on the banks and the railroads.

they all knew this was not the case but it was heady reading for a kid and his friends who were only 15 and 16 years old. as we all know what happened to the dillingers, the bradys, the bonnie and clydes, et al, they were dispatched with no thought of their personal rights, and when their demise was broadcast through the press all the regular people could all sit back and smile that they still had their little piece of life and that even though the lifestyle that they read about seemed so glorious, the fact was he was happy making his two bits a day chopping wood and getting ready to go fight a war.

When I asked my father about Bonnie & Clyde he said they were killers without remorse. He was born in 1910 & remembered the stories well. He also said they robbed banks but never gave anything to the poor. Sort of like our Govt. today.

My dad was born in '24 in the Dustbowl and has told me stories of him hawking newspapers with gangster headlines, as well as Bonnie & Clyde exploits. He could recall yelling on a streetcorner - "Read all about it!! Bonnie and Clyde hit a bank and shoot it out in East Texas..." He mentioned how so many people kept up with it as a way to enliven pretty dull, difficult lives...

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Ret'd LEO
SWCA #2275