Celebrities Books

I first read "Please Kill Me" and developed a fascination for this era of American social history. This book describes, through stories and pictures, the various stages of Max's and all the celebrity goings on. Very entertaining, also a high quality edition, of a period of decadence.

I often walk past the site where Max's once stood. Even though I only came to New York about three years ago, I already knew the look of that building from photos. Patti Smith said that when she saw the deli that has taken over there, she cried. I found it sad myself and never even went to Max's. Thanks to this fascinating, touching, and sometimes terrifying book, I feel that I got a small taste of what it must have been like. I do realize, however, that "you really had to be there". Of course, if I had been, I might not be here now. Max's was probably way too fast for a guy like me to handle. I might look back fondly like some of the people in this book or I might have jumped off a building like Andrea Feldman. Pick this book up for a heartfelt examination of what was truly a crossroads for pop culture--a place where the only poeple who felt like freaks were the ones who weren't.

Anyone interested in the NYC rock'n'roll scene of the 1960's-'70's should get this book. Warhol's Superstars, the Velvets, Nico, Patti Smith, and so many more all have their place in here! Mickey Ruskin, the owner of Max's, pretty much kept alive 99% of the cities "starving artists" during those times! A lot of popular musicians got their start at Max's, from Bruce Springsteen to Debbie Harry (a former Max's waitress!). If you want to learn more about the "back room" at Max's and all the characters who hung out there, get this book! Lots of entertaining anecdotes from so many different scenesters! Most of these people lived on the edge! Other books I would recommend are "Man Enough To Be a Woman" by Jayne County and "Rebel Heart" by Bebe Buell (they were regulars at Max's as well)!!!

This book was great, excellent pictures and a great tell all of the time. Nothing was held back from this oral history, very detailed and fun. Yvonne Ruskin did a great job, I felt like I knew these people and since I have never been to Max's and now that it is gone it was alot of fun to see what it was like and sad at the same time because I wish I could of been there.

Yvonne Sewall-Ruskin's "High on Rebellion" is a wonderful recreation of Max's era (1965 thru 1981). Filled with hundreds of photographs (by Leee Black Childers, Anton Perich, Billy Name and others) and hundreds of interview quotes, reading it is like a multimedia experience - as exciting as a night in Max's infamous backroom! For those of us lucky enough to have been there, it is a trip back to the center of the maelstrom... Max's was New York's high energy intersection of the art and music world, where up and coming young ones could brush elbows with Warhol, Patti Smith, Bowie, the NY Dolls, et al. Beautifully designed, this book will be enjoyed by anyone interested in the artists, musicians and popular culture of the late sixties and the 1970's. It really is shocking to realize how many young talents succumbed to the excesses of that time, still the book created in me a longing to go back there again! Thanks for a wonderful tribute, Yvonne!

Mickey Cohen certainly was a product of his time. Edward G. Robinson only played LITTLE CAESAR on screen, Cohen was the real thing. He was made to measure for dominating the crime in and around Hollywood. From fixing prize fights and horse races to shaking down movie stars and politicians.
Then there are the six murders that he freely admits to, not counting all those he doesn't own up to. Still, ask any waiter, car hop or bell boy and they're all tell you what a great guy he was -or rather a great tipper.

Mickey Cohen fitted right in with LA. His exploits commanded the front pages and gossip columns of the day. Brad Lewis' book is well researched, but for me not all the loose ends were tied together. Cohen's relationships with his bosses -the mob, are detailed better in Gus Russo's book SUPERMOB.

When most people hear the word "gangster", Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Bugsy Siegel or Meyer Lansky spring to mind. These were brilliant, charismatic, ruthless men who built financial empires on the backs of illegal activities, and often, other peoples misery.

I had never thought of Mickey Cohen as a first rate gangster of the magnitude of the aforementioned, but in reading this book, it is clear that he cut a wide swath through twentieth century American history.

The book is well written, although details of Cohen's life remain surprisingly sketchy. The author never does get a handle on where Cohen's opulent wealth comes from, although he does hint that prostitution and gambling are it's main source.

Cohen and Benny Siegel moved from East Coast to West to capture the vice at the request of Meyer Lansky, and each had a storied career. Siegel's has been told many times. Cohen's, normally as an adjunct to Siegel's.

This book makes clear that Cohen's life and influence far surpassed "Bugsy's". Cohen not only controlled much of the traditional vice along the West Coast, he had in's with Senators, Presidents, Hollywood icons, and even The Reverend Billy Graham.

Through it all he comes off as an upstanding, decent, and charismatic person.

He survived up to twelve attempted "hits", two extended prison stays, and not least, two marriages.

He is a piece of American folklore I would like to know more about, and for anyone who feels the same, this book is an excellent chronicle of a twentieth century enigma.

I liked this fascinating story of a criminal who didn't believe he was one. Before this very little was known about Mickey Cohen. I found the design descriptions of the night clubs and Cohen's houses and apartments very interesting. This underwold figure was made real, human, and surprisingly likeable. Each chapter revealed another intriguing facet of his life. Highly recommended. It is unusual for a history/biography to be such a fun read.

This is a firts bio of Mickey Cohen but it's much more and in fact covers a whole period in Mafia history centered on the West Coast. Made lively by hundreds of anecdotes, this book is very satisfying and fills a huge gap in the known history of the Jewish Mob, its political and business ramifications and the incredible reach of some of its memebers. From Bugsy Siegel to the rat Pack: all the Hollywood "gangs" are shown here and Mickey was almost like a puppet master pulling strings! A must read.

A comprehensive, thorough expose of the early Mafia days of New York, Hollywood, and Las Vegas. A fascinating read!

If you could pick up a book and have it relate to all parts of your life. Give you the spark you need to push through some of your most important issues, this is the book. I read this book and could not put it down because of the interesting way Linda constructed these very deep innermost revelations of some of the people I have admired for so long. I am now anxiously waiting for book two to come out. This has the markings of a fantastic book series ala Chicken Soup For The Soul or for that matter I could see this as Television series. I recommend this book to all readers. It has everything that most people would enjoy. I give it Five stars. *****

"Lives Charmed" shows you how the people who seem to 'have it all', created their lives to be that way. As I read this book, I found myself taking many things from the individual lifestyles and applying them to my own life.
I began to see a common thread of thinking, a way of looking at the world that makes sense. All of the subjects of the 'mini-autobiographies' have their own unique style, but the spirituality is the same. They all have a deep connection to their Inner Wisdom, the Earth, their Soul and their God.
Linda's personal anecdotes about how these extraordinary people came into her life are the real treasures in this book. I cried when I read about her father-like relationship with Paul Williams. I laughed from my own skeptical-belly when she described her first meeting with Guru Singh.
This book is a treasure for your personal library and a great gift for friends & loved-ones. I can't wait to read more of Linda's extraordinary conversations. I am looking forward to 'Lives Charmed II'!!

What a gift these stories are to the world. This book made me realize we are all humans on this planet and we all go through our "stuff". With each story, I was moved to ask questions about myself. It made me discover more of me. Thank you for this insightful and moving testament to the human spirit. When's the next book?!?!

Although Linda writes about the lives of celebrities, the quality of the writing and the anecdotes she chose from her lengthy interviews frames their humanity first. These people struggle, as we all do, with the trials and traumas of life and loss, love and tragedy, they just do it with a spotlight illuminating their struggles as well as their triumphs. Their generosity to share the lessons learned on their journeys and Linda Sivertsen's vibrant and focused writing makes this book a kind of treasure map to help all of us on our journeys to discover our own magic within. Thanks, Linda, for helping me believe in and create my own "Life Charmed"!

As the author of the 'Paul Williams Music And Acting' web pages, I was first drawn to this book because it contains a fascinating chapter on singer, songwriter, actor and humanitarian Paul Williams. Being an avid fan of Pauls and Vice-President of the Official Paul Williams Fan Club I was interested to know what Linda could tell me about Paul that I did not already know.

What I found was that Linda has a gift for writing about those areas of her subjects lives which are usually 'hidden' from public view. Not that this book is a 'kiss and tell' book with lots of scandal. It is rather an account of what has made her subjects the contented people they are today.

Contentment is the over-riding theme of all the mini-biographies. Despite some of her subjects past histories of abuse and self-abuse, they have all come to a place in their lives when they have the courage to look back and understand the part their past history has played in making them the fulfilled people they are today.

After a brief introduction at the start of each chapter Linda then leaves it up to her subjects to 'tell their own story'. Rather than a 'question and answer' type of interview Linda has very effectively chosen to divide up each chapter into topic headings, and then leaves it up to her subject to tell his/her story in his/her own words. What makes this book the gem it is, is the topics Linda has chosen to focus on. Each of her subjects starts by defining what to them is 'Happiness' and then moves on to talking about their 'Early Years' and 'Influences'. Other topics regularly covered include 'Obstacles', 'Spirituality', 'Life Work', 'Family', 'Drives', 'Fears', 'Visions', 'Miracles' and 'Earth'. Not subjects one is used to hearing 'stars' talk about.

As well as Paul Williams, Linda also interviews people from a variety of walks of life. Linda interviews include a number of actors (Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Woody Harrelson, Robert Townsend and Catherine Oxenberg), film producers (Sandy Gallin and Janet Yang) journalists (Keely Shaye Smith and Leeza Gibbons), spiritual leaders (Guru Singh and Robert A.Johnson), sportsmen (Arnold Palmer and Chris Chandler), artists (Wyland and Beatrice Wood) as well as super model Tatjana Patitz and an English lord (Lord Robin Russell ) who works to save endangered animals through his English safari park Wobern Abby.

The fact that Linda is obviously a person who her subjects trust makes each account an extremely personal and hence fascinating read.

I loved this book. I love history, and historical figures, and this combined both in a way that was utter fun and fascinating. I saw other reviews that said they couldn't put the book down, and its true. I hope the author has a second edition coming.

I bought this book as a gift...and then had to buy one for myself. I really couldn't put it down it was so much fun. The author has a gift for telling non-fiction stories in a manner that makes it read like great fiction. I learned more about famous people here than I did in many biographies, and all the way had fun doing it. It's a book that's very hard to stop reading. I wish it were longer!

It's fascinating to see how other people manage their financial affairs--the fact that these are famous people adds to the fun.

This book gives you the fascinating information that you want to know about each famous person.

It never gets dull or boring.

I read it in a few hours, and I plan to read it again. I enjoyed it that much.

Fascinating information about the financial lives of many famous people! If you are interested in the rich and famous, this book is for you. I read lots of technical books. This book was a nice diversion... very easy and extremely enjoyable to read.

Holmes' nuanced, understated, and very readable style belie what must have been an exhaustive research effort. She highlights small but interesting details in each of the 100 profiles that invite the reader to find out more. After reading this book, you will have a historical, architectural, and cultural overlay to flavor your own relationship with and memories of The City. No one could hope to fully encapsulate this sprawling topic in one volume. But few could manage to assemble as much, in as portable or pleasing a package, as the author does to contextualize these noteworthy lives.

When I first came across this book, I thought it would make a great "stocking stuffer" gift; however, I continue to buy copies to give as birthday gifts--or "just because" gifts. For anyone who is preoccupied with New York--whether it is home or not--this book is addictive reading. In just a few paragraphs the author synthesizes the rich lives of each of these New Yorkers. Each section provides insight into pockets of the city and the lives that have passed through it, making it the perfect book to tote around the city to read on the subway and throughout your day.

After flying through this smart, incredibly well-researched book I realized it was the perfect gift for all of my friends who do/used to/aspire to live in New York City. I also gave it to my teacher friends who loved the detail and use it as a resource. How Holmes found all this stuff I'll never know, but I'm really glad she did!

This book has been in my coat pocket for a month. I sneak time to read it on the subway, at my desk over lunch, right before I go to bed. With "100 New Yorkers: A Guide to Illustrious Lives and Locations" Holmes is like the person at a cocktail party everyone gathers around to hear tell stories--stories about amazing people who have lived here and about the interesting, tragic, remarkable, funny, magical lives they've lead.

The book makes even the most jaded New Yorker love that they live here. It's really quite special.

This beautifully produced book contains 100 well chosen black and white photographs and 100 well written biographies of people to whom New York was important. They lived in the City during different periods of its 350 year history, some honored, some detested, all deeply ingrained in its fabric.

Some like Dawn Powell and Malcolm X made it their home and part of their personal identity. Some like Edith Wharton and Sojourner Truth left it and wrote about what it lacked or what it had lost. Some like Mark Twain and Sarah Bernhardt loved it despite its rough edges. Some like Anthony Comstock fought its moral lapses. Some like Emma Goldman and Dorothy Day devoted their lives to helping the flood of immigrants. All were deeply influenced, and many influenced, this great city.

One index includes the 100 people and the sites associated with each of them. A second index lists connections among the 100 New Yorkers and the places in the city where their lives intersected. Examples include: Elizabeth Bishop and Marianne Moore meeting on a bench outside of the New York Public Library reading room; and the midnight walks of Jacob Riis and Theodore Roosevelt through the slums of Lower Manhattan.

The "Chicago Tribune" captured this book perfectly: "One hundred famous New York faces are profiled in this fascinating travel companion. Find out where Edgar Allen Poe used to drink, which clubs gave Joey Ramone his musical break and which bar was Babe Ruth's favorite. Each section in 100 New Yorkers takes the reader through a tour of the celebrities' residencies, love affairs, scandals, accomplishments, and where you can see their legacies--whether in art museums, immortalized in stone or celebrated in song. There's a great selection of everyone from Sammy Davis Jr. and Malcolm X to Mae West and George Washington."

This little guide is a perfect companion on a visit through the lives of 100 fascinating people and places that made a difference to them.

After I purchased this book I contacted the author, Mr. Moore to ask him about collecting autographs by index cards or by photographs. He was prompt and very informative with his reply. If you want questions answered about auotgraph collecting, get in touch with him, you will be happy you did.

The reader and reviewer who wrote this book is the ULTIMATE has it right. This book is everything an autograph collector needs. Besides the thousands of celebrity addresses, this book backs up the names with celebrity facts. If you want a complete history of actors it is there under the website named in the book, if you want other facts to write to the celebrity about it is there. (the book has celebrity hobbies, celebrity charities, celebrity birthdays, celebrity hangouts and a lot of useful facts about celebrities)This is the only celebrity directory I will ever need. The price of this book is well worth it!!

I have known David Moore for many years and he is the only author of celebrity directories that uses and updates his address list on daily basis. For me, here is a list of celebrities who I have contacted and received autographs through the mail. They are: Sarah Jessica Parker, Bill Gates, Roy Clark, Gillian Anderson, Nicholas Cage, Bill Cosby, James Garner, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Gary Trudeau, Olivia Newton-John, Brandi Chastain, James Watson, Sandra Day O'Connor, Harmon Killebrew, George Bush, Betty Ford, Jimmy Carter, Leann Rhimes, Muhammad Ali, Angela Landsbury, Reba McEntire, Jay Leno, Faith Hill, Tommy John, Tom Hanks, Michael Eisner, Nolan Ryan, Tony Bennet, Colin Powell, Robert Duvall, John Mellencamp, Whoopi Goldberg and many others. If you want excellent results and great customer service, I highly recommend David Moore's book.

I am an autograph collector and I was happy to see how complete this book is. I collect astronauts who have walked on the moon, hi-tech business people such as Bill Gates, movie actors like Tom Hanks and baseball sluggers like Sammy Sousa and Mark McGuire. They are in this books with thousands more. It is well organized and I liked the extra features of sample letters and questions & answers about autograph collecting. It is a very good reference for autograph collectors.

I e-mailed the publisher to ask for an update of a celebrity address. He was fast with an answer. He also mentioned he has started a new service to autograph collectors. He will answer any question on the subject of autoghaph collecting for FREE!
I will use the e-mail address for finding out autograph prices, how and where to buy and sell autographs plus anything else I can think of. A great offer!

I made Senator Joe Lieberman's Cranberry Bread and it is spectacular! Then, with the help of my six year old daughter we made Chef Waneeta's (Darby Field Inn) Scones. Yumm-O!!! We love this book. I will recommend it to all my friends. The directions are really easy to follow. I can't wait to try another. Go Girl Scouts!

I love the simplicity of the recipes. The recipes are easy to follow and the dishes are Awesome! GREAT JOB putting this together! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!

Americans Cook! is a great cookbook, and I'm so proud to be part of the project, alongside so many famous and interesting people. I am proud to say that I was a Girl Scout when I was young and I feel it's a wonderful thing to do something so useful for your community and others. The recipes are so inspiring, even to someone like myself who has quite a bit of knowledge (and alot of recipes) about many types of dishes. I congratulate the Girl Scouts of Chappaqua, New York, Troop #2738 (and their "tireless" leader, Felice Kaufman) for producing such an outstanding cookbook. I can't wait to make some of the delicious recipes from the book. To the Girl Scouts of Chappaqua, I'm anxiously awaiting your next cookbook. CHEERS and BRAVO!....Diana Baker Woodall, Diana's Desserts, A Website Dedicated to Home Baker's.

`Americans Cook' is the quintessential cookbook that combines so many attributes. The premise was simple; girl scouts writing to celebrities and chefs to request from them their favorite recipes. Who could resist! Author Felice Kaufman raised the bar from Girl Scout cookies to BBQ Shrimp Appetizer from the famous Ruth Chris Steak House, to John Travolta's Crab Quiche, and Nancy Reagan's recipe for President Reagan Macaroni & Cheese to Senator Jeff Session's Banana Pudding. Over 300 recipes which are as much fun to read about as they are to cook and enjoy. Girl Scout Troop #2738 prepared every recipe in the book before submittal. Does country singer Sara Evan's Peas and Mushroom Alfredo sound like something different to enjoy with family and friends? How about Arnold Schwarzeneggar's Kaiserschmarren? Purchase `Americans Cook' and prepare several dishes for a celebrity get together of your own. A cookbook like no other and one that easily brings the whole family together.

What an interesting cookbook Americans Cook! is. The recipes came from professional cooks, politicians, neighbors, the Scouts themselves, and the roster of dishes is as eclectic as the list of contributors. It's as much fun to read as it is to cook from, and it makes me wish we could have done a project as clever as this when I was a Girl Scout.

However, a star gets taken off because the index is barely helpful. But! Make that all the more reason to read thru the book first to acquaint yourself with who is cooking what.

Even though I have to be completely honest and admit that I actually wrote this book, I have no hesitation in recommending it! It is not only fabulous and funny, but really and truly it saved my life and if you read it you will see how! I have to re-read it every so often to remind myself how wonderful those angels can be, if only we ask them to help us. And if you dont ask, they cant help!

Victoria was in a slump, she had left Shane McGowan, had moved to Dublin and was in a funk when she started communicating with Angels. A woman not unfamiliar with mysticism and who had explored a lot of different ideas and religions she still finds this a little baffling. Still she went with some of the suggestions and found that her life improved. This is her diary. Some of what is suggested is pretty obvious but sometimes it's the way it's said rather than what is said that can help a person move in their life.

Interesting and thought provoking.

When Victoria walked into my yoga studio with such beautiful energy, I knew that an angel had landed. "Are you an angel? I asked. She smiled. I felt happy, safe, and much loved in her radiant presence.


I was overwhelmed when I read her previous life in "Angel in Disguise?" The distress, struggle, and pain she had experienced in the past. At present, I only see an angel smiling and warming my heart completely. Her book is truthful, bare, emotional, and fantastically funny. Although the reality is harsh and mostly unpleasant, Victoria has risen from above with the aid of angels. The book is mystical, spiritual, and most importantly - real.


Indeed, Victoria is an angel in disguise. I am privileged and delighted to recognize her under those stylish clothes and fabulous jewelries. Victoria, rock on!

As a memoir about life in rock n roll's inner circle, Angel in Disguise stands out for its sheer, raw honesty. In an industry predicated on cool, most people try to maintain some form of mystique. But ... while this may sell records, it tends to make for a boring book.

Victoria, on the other hand, is brave enough not to hold back her emotions and motivations, even the embarrassing ones. Though she's close to Nick Cave, Shane MacGowan, practically every other icon in music's pantheon of coolness and even Johnny Depp, she doesn't try to create more mystique around them or herself. To me, she deserves a lot of credit for revealing herself so fully, since opening yourself up to everyone's judgment is a difficult thing to do.

The other special aspect of this book is its angel wisdom. Victoria does channeling, a form of meditation where you get quiet and centered and wait for messages from the higher realms. Since angelic wisdom is articulated to benefit as many people as possible, anyone can try the exercises that the angels suggest to Victoria. If you don't believe in angels, no worries -- just treat the angel advice as if it were advice given by anyone and then judge it on its own merits!

A book about angels may cause some to raise a cynical eyebrow but this book avoids any kind of obvious pigeonhole. In fact it details Victoria Clarke's journey of self discovery: from her lowest moments and learning through her mistakes with these non interfering beings that gently guide her in the right direction to where her self confidence is rebuilt. This book is self affirming - the books tone is both self depreciating and warm as is Victoria herself. Although that character Ronan seems a bit of a scoundrel.

A great read!

A very informative book, for finding out information on Stars. The illustrations are excellent, a thumbs up to the illustrator, he should go far with his abilities. Keep up the good drawings.

This is a great book to sit back, relax and read. I found it to be a great stress reliever, and my time passed so quickly as I couldn't put the book down. Hope everyone enjoys this book as I did.

The birthday directory is an amazingly fun and interesting. I found it informative and hard to put down. It's full of interesting tidbit's.I highly recomend it for schools and student's and a must for libary's! It's worth the pick up.

The illustrations in this book are great

Are you one of those people who constantly forgets to send birthday cards to those you love? What about people you don't even know (the famous, near-famous, and infamous)? What about people who no are longer capable of celebrating their birthdays (i.e., the dearly departed--hey, it's the thought that counts). Yes, dates can be tricky to remember, especially if you find calendars and clocks to be offensive. THE BIRTHDAY DIRECTORY is your answer to all of these problems. It includes names, dates, and background information for thousands of people. Athletes, musicians, movie stars (adult and legit), writers, artists, and politicians are just some of the character types you will find between its covers. A large number of strange b&w illustrations have been added to spice things up. Entrees are listed by month, making it easy to see who was born on the same day as you. I was pleased to discover that Abe Vigoda (A.K.A. "Fish") and I share the same birthday. Abe Vigoda!!! Now, that's what I call trivia. Could anyone ask for more?

The Bobbed-Haired Bandit is about a pair of poor newlyweds, Celia and Ed Cooney, who turned to armed robbery to better their lot, sriking terror in the hearts of Brooklyn grocers in 1924. The competitive New York City tabloid press turned the girl desperado into a media darling, an anti-heroine for the age - Jesse James, in a flapper dress.

The authors - both of whom are historians and "scholars of the media" - stumbled across the story by accident:

"Digging through yellowed clippings in a scrapbook at the New York State Library in Albany, we came across a criminal with an intriguing moniker: the Bobbed Haired Bandit. With so much type set on her behalf, she was hard to miss. There were hundreds of articles about her, none of them all true."

But these two fellows knew a good story when they saw one, and like me they have a fine appreciation for the rich vernacular of old journalism. They don't write headlines like these any more.

NEW GIRL BANDIT, A BLONDE,

HELPS KIDNAP TRUCKLOAD OF

SUGAR: TWITS CHAUFFEUR

***

BEWARE THE BOBS

***

DEPREDATIONS BY GIRL ROBBER

AND MAN COMPANION ROUSE

POLICE OFFICIALS TO ACTION

***

FORGET SEX - SHOOT !

Now tell me the last time you saw a word like "depredation" in a headline. Or "twit" as a verb. I love it!

Now back to the story. So this young lady and her man go on a tear, robbing store after store, making the police "look like brass monkeys almost every time the sun went down," in the lady's own words. The journalists of New York gave her the front page day after day, while the crimes of other, more ordinary folk were "passed over unnoticed" (Brooklyn Eagle). The lady robber became a blank canvas, and journalists threw lots of ink on her.

The authors did something interesting with all these old clippings, using newspaper articles from elsewhere in the same papers to explore other themes in the life of the city at the time, from the impact of Prohibition, the changing roles of women, on down to the weather reports to flesh out the full story of the "naughty scamp," to try to explain why she became the media phenomenon she was.

Then, like the Younger Brothers before them, the Cooneys attempted a poorly planned daylight robbery, and it was their downfall. Though they tried to flee, they were caught and returned to New York for a triumphant homecoming.

It turns out the journalists liked her story a lot more before she had a name. Before she had a poor childhood. Before the truth of what she was negated a lot of the coverage of her crime spree. In an extraordinary editorial, the influential newspaperman Water Lippmann had this to say about Cecilia Cooney:

"For some months now we have been vastly entertained by the bobbed-haired bandit. Knowing nothing about her, we created a perfect story standardized according to the rules laid down by the movies and the short story magazines. The story had, as the press agents say, everything. It had a flapper and a bandit who baffled the police; it had sex and money, crime and mystery. And then yesterday we read in the probation officer's report the story of Cecilia Cooney's life. It was not the least bit entertaining...."



Even after she was caught, and, along with her husband, sentenced to prison, Mrs. Cooney continued to be a blank slate on which various parties wrote rants. But these biographers don't let the story spin off into a sidebar. The last couple of chapters tell the rest of the tale of the bandit and companion, and by that point, she's visible as a flesh and blood person through the headlines, a heart and mind in addition to a journalism phenomenon. As the authors remark --

"Reading these stories... not only tells us how certain individuals and specific events were understood at the time but also reveals how the past is remembered and reminds us how history is made... "the record" of the past is documented mostly by the commercial mass media, which subject the events to a filtering of fact and fancy based on standards of popularity and profitability. For what mattered most to the newspapers of New York City in the Twenties is the same thing that ... [matters to] book publishers of today: telling, and selling, a good story."

And ain't that a final truth.

Celia Cooney, most celebrated as the "Bobbed-Haired Bandit" of the Twenties, comes vividly to life in this scholarly yet entertaining exploration of her brief life of crime and celebrity, with emphasis on the celebrity. Both Celia's own recognition of her fame and the multifaceted interpretations of it by police, press, and the public make for fascinating reading. Her duel persona as the aspiring flapper and expectant mother who joins her husband on holdups to make ends meet makes for one of the more compelling crime stories of the Jazz Age. Her later life, concealing her criminal past while raising her sons who knew nothing of it, presents a striking contrast to the young lady bandit who publicly gloried in her exploits. The photos are equally intriguing and belie the image of the dangerous gunwoman, especially when tiny, harmless-looking Celia is standing alongside husband Ed. And there are plenty of absolutely classic old crime cartoons from New York newspapers. Alternately funny, shocking, touching, and harrowing, this is one of the best historical crime books I've read in a while.

The Bobbed Haired Bandit by Stephen Duncombe and Andrew Mattson tells the story of Celia and Ed Cooney in 1920s New York. Newlyweds and newly pregnant, Ed and Celia decide to rob some convenience stores to try and make a better life for themselves. Because Celia has bobbed hair, flapper style, the story of their robberies quickly grab the attention of the newspapers and soon the police. The Cooneys find that the stolen money doesn't last long and after a succession of several small hold-ups, flee to Florida only to be captured shortly after the death of their newborn daughter. The authors spend a great deal of time in the beginning of the book discussing the sociological implications of Celia's celebrity, but they can't seem to decide on what exactly the public's obsession with her meant. Much ink is also given to the personal histories of the cops chasing them, but they detract from the real story of Celia. Perhaps one of the most captivating details is that Celia's sons didn't find out about their mother until she had passed away. Celia Cooney was a woman of mystery to the papers in the 1920s and remained one in her life, even to her family. Now there's a story.

The 1920s was a decade when few major metropolitan newspapers didn't have National Enquirer style headlines every day. Renegade women were a fixture in these potboiler stories: Katherine Malm, a.k.a. the "Tiger Woman" and lethal flapper Wanda Stopa titillated Chicagoans, and in New York, a tough little laundress named Celia Cooney was determined to burst through the economic barrier between the Haves and the Have-Nots.

Stephen Duncombe and Andrew Mattson have written the type of book I love: an intelligent re-examination of a now-forgotten media sensation. Celia Cooney and her husband, Ed, embarked on a brazen robbery spree after money worries galvanized them out of anxiety and into action. That's the simplified version. Seen from a broader perspective, the Cooneys' crimes provided an impetus for politicians and the public to argue their views on touchy political and social issues, such as consumerism, attitudes toward the poor, and women's liberation. While telling the story of Ed and Celia Cooney, Duncombe and Mattson also expose the ambivalent feelings that the New York public of the 1920s had toward social progress and change.

The authors did an especially good job of capturing Celia's spunky personality, and showing how it kept her spirits up from her degraded childhood right into her feisty old age. Well done.

This book is a historically accurate, compassionate and insightful look at a fascinating couple who committed robberies in 1923-24. She was pregnant and fashionable and he was the mastermind. Together, they set both the Police Department and the population of NYC on their ears. They were fast, gutsy and a little desperate.

The real story to me is one of triumph over adversity. Not only did "the Bandit" overcome a tragic childhood to become a strong, compassionate, fiercely loyal and independent woman, but she became a tax-paying, law-abiding citizen after her jail time. After her husband's death, she raised two boys on her own through the Depression and World War 2. She is a wonderful example of how it is possible to move past our negative histories and ethical blunders.

I should know - she was my grandmother.