Bonnie and Clyde: The Lives Behind the Legend

(Paperback)

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Description

The daring movie revolutionized Hollywood - now the true story of Bonnie and Clyde is told in the lovers' own voices, with verisimilitude and drama to match Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood". Strictly nonfiction - no dialogue or other material has been made up - and set in the dirt-poor Texas landscape that spawned the star-crossed outlaws, Paul Schneider's brilliantly researched and dramatically crafted tale begins with a daring jailbreak and ends with an ambush and shoot-out that consigns their bullet-riddled bodies to the crumpled front seat of a hopped-up getaway car. Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow's relationship was, at the core, a toxic combination of infatuation blended with an instinct for going too far too fast. Without glamorizing the killers, or vilifying the cops, the book, alive with action and high-level entertainment, provides a complete picture of America's most famous outlaw couple and the culture that created them.

Reviews

"When David Newman and I were writing the screen play for "Bonnie and Clyde" we did an enormous amount of research, but not nearly as much as Paul Schneider. And it has paid off handsomely; he has written a splendid biography of two iconic American gangsters who were 'not only outlaws, but outcasts.' From the first page, waiting for a prison break on a foggy morning in East Texas to the last, the book is riveting and unforgettable." - Robert Benton"

Author Bio

Paul Schneider is the author of Bonnie and Clyde, the critically acclaimed Brutal Journey, the highly praised The Enduring Shore, and The Adirondacks, a New York Times Book Review Notable Book. He and his wife, the photographer Nina Bramhall, and their son, Nathaniel, divide their time between Bradenton, Florida and West Tisbury, Massachusetts.