Charlie and the Shawneetown Dame: Love and Madness in the Roaring Twenties, An Incredible True Story

Donald Bain

ISBN 10: 155753375X / ISBN 13: 9781557533753

Published by Purdue Univ Pr, 2004

About this Item

illustrated edition. 268 pages. 8.75x5.75x0.75 inches. In Stock.

Seller Inventory # __155753375X

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Charlie and the Shawneetown Dame: Love and Madness in the Roaring Twenties, An Incredible True Story
• Publisher: Purdue Univ Pr
• Publication Date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 155753375X
• ISBN 13: 9781557533753
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Brand New

About this title

Synopsis

Charlie and the Shawneetown Dame, based on a true story, recounts one of the most famous turf wars waged during that national madness called Prohibition. Charlie Birger's outsized ambitions brought him from New York to Southern Illinois in search of fortune as a big-time bootlegger. He soon found that his dream to be "even bigger than Al Capone" faced a few hurdles - including the Ku Klux Klan; the vicious Shelton Brothers of East St. Louis; and Helen Holbrook, a beautiful, alcoholic socialite from Shawneetown, whose simultaneous affairs with Birger and Carl Shelton led to the escalation of an already bloody and bizarre gang war. Donald Bain vividly captures turbulent Southern Illinois during the Roaring Twenties, and deftly chronicles Birger's journey from charismatic leader with delusions of grandeur to beleaguered general in the harsh reality of hand-to-hand combat, to his demise as a dupe of a far cleverer enemy. Ultimately done in by the ""Shawneetown Dame;"" by his own inflated ego; and by a sly sheriff named Pritchard, who conned Charlie into jail, allowing the area's most famous gangster to bring his sub-machine gun into the cell with him - Charlie and his story are a fascinating piece of Americana - crude, violent, yet often humorous. Charlie and the Shawneetown Dame grandly testifies that truth indeed can be stranger than fiction.

About the Author

Donald Bain, a Purdue University graduate, is the author or ghostwriter of more than 80 books, including the best selling Murder, She Wrote series of original murder mystery novels based upon the popular TV show. His books include mysteries, comedies, investigative journalism, westerns, biographies, historical romances, and Mafia novels. Bain currently lives in North Salem, New York.