Bonnie and Clyde: The Making of a Legend

Gr 7 Up—Utilizing witness accounts, contemporary news coverage, and material gained from family interviews and personal letters, Blumenthal has written more than a crime narrative or a biography of the famous outlaws Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. The book presents a social and cultural snapshot of the duo's times as well as a detailed reporting of their crimes, combining information on the couple's deeds and misdeeds with excerpts from Parker's poems, mugshots, newspaper clippings, and family photos. Cultural artifacts and the phenomenon that contributed to the outlaws' legend are explained in highlighted sections, as are obituaries for each of the Barrow gang's victims. Blumenthal humanizes these gangsters of the Great Depression by placing them within the era in which they lived. In doing so, she never minimizes or excuses the carnage and destruction they caused, nor the terrible price they ultimately paid. The insightful back matter includes sections on "What Happened to…?" and "A Note About Facts and Sources."