3 Review(s)

Bandits, burglars and thieves have always been a mainstay of society. From pickpockets to pirates, bank robbers to bushrangers, this is an encyclopaedia of theft, one of the world's oldest professions. More than 400 entries detail history's most famous robberies from around the world, the thieves who executed them, and the lawmen who brought them to justice. Topical entries are featured, such as art theft, bungled capers, highway robbery, robberies in film and fiction, social bandits, safecracking, and robbery as terrorism. The volume also includes more than 70 photographs, a number of which are mugshots of top bank robbers. Cases covered include: Brink's robbery in Massachusetts, 1950; England's "Great Train Robbery", 1963; the sacking of Panama City by pirates, 1671; and the Wah Mee Club Massacre in San Francisco's Chinatown, 1983. Biographies include: the Barker Gang; Anne Bonny; John Dillinger; D.B. Cooper, Butch Cassidy; A.J. "Gentleman Jack" Davis; J. Edgar Hoover; Eleanor Jarman "The Blonde Tigress"; and the Whittemore Gang.