Items related to Inventing the Public Enemy: Gangster in American Culture,...
In this account of mass media images, David Ruth looks at Al Capone and other "invented" gangsters of the 1920s and 1930s. The subject of innumerable newspaper and magazine articles, novels and Hollywood movies, the gangster was a compelling figure for Americans preoccupied with crime and the social turmoil it symbolized. Ruth shows that the media gangster was less a reflection of reality than a projection created from Americans' values, concerns and ideas about what would sell. We see efficient criminal executives demonstrating the multifarious uses of organization; dapper, big-spending gangsters highlighting the promises and perils of the emerging consumer society; and gunmen and molls guiding an uncertain public through the shifting terrain of modern gender roles. In this study, Ruth reveals how the public enemy provides a far-ranging critique of modern culture.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
From the Back Cover:
In this richly detailed account of mass media images, David Ruth looks at Al Capone and other 'invented' gangsters of the 1920s and 1930s. The subject of innumerable newspaper and magazine articles, scores of novels, pulp books and plays, and hundreds of Hollywood movies, the gangster was a compelling figure for Americans preoccupied with crime and the social turmoil it symbolized.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press
- Publication date1996
- ISBN 10 0226732177
- ISBN 13 9780226732176
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages200
- Rating
(No Available Copies)
Search Books: Create a WantIf you know the book but cannot find it on AbeBooks, we can automatically search for it on your behalf as new inventory is added. If it is added to AbeBooks by one of our member booksellers, we will notify you!
Create a Want