Rating: 
Summary: The Devil is in the details...
Review: While I agree that a book covering the lives (and hopefully motivations) of the women associated with John Dillinger and other Depression-era gangsters is long overdue, I have some serious issues with "Don't Call Us Molls...". Most problematic for me is this book being lauded for it's outstanding research. Well I'm no great Dillinger "expert" but here are a few of the mistakes, I found on the first pass through. On page 326, during a bank robbery in Fostoria, Ohio, the author claims the Chief of Police Frank Culp was killed. Nope. He survived being shot. The bullet entered one lung and crushed a rib. His was the most serious injury. There were NO fatalities from the First National Bank of Fostoria robbery. Another discrepancy shows up on page 50. The author states that one of the girlfriends, Mary Northern Kinder, was born in 1908. On the same page, it says she was 22 years old in 1933. Not according to my math. She would have been 25 years old. There are annoying mistakes scattered throughout that never should have made it past the editor. On pages 50 and 51, a character is called "Silent Margaret" Behrens. Later on, in the book, this same character is now known as "Silent Sadie" Behrens (pages 411 and 421). Another boo-boo can be found on page 100. An Officer O'Malley is killed during the First National bank robbery in East Chicago. Initially he's called Patrick O'Malley then two paragraphs down it becomes William O'Malley. Even though the book is loaded with details, often explainations are either muddled or not given at all when the author could have cleared things up with one or two concise facts. During a trial description on page 150, one of the defendant's lawyers digs up a little known law which forbids extradition of any prisoner against whom charges are pending in another state. This law supposedly keeps a prisoner by the name of Ed Shouse from returning to testify a second time. Later on the same page, it states..."The same witnesses came up to testify, with the exception of Shouse, who refused to return to Lima." Ok, did the law change? Did Ed Shouse get cold feet? Or did the author leave out some groundwork that would have helped the reader understand what happened? Although my complaints have been objective up till now, I have one final purely subjective comment. Ellen Poulsen, the author, in her attempts at deglamorizing Dillinger and company, goes too far.They come across as a bunch of psychopathic losers and idiots. If that is indeed the case, then why should I care to learn anything about these gangsters' ladies?
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderfully Researched
Review: Wow, what can I say- As a 1930s outlaw historian, this is one of the best researched books on the market, AND a new subject, the MOLLS- New information, new subject material, new photos....
Nice. A great addition to my true crime library.
Thanks to the author-
Sandy Jones,
Curator-
John Dillinger Historical Society & Outlaw Museum
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