Running With Bonnie and Clyde: The Ten Fast Years of Ralph Fults

by John Neal Phillips

One of the most sought-after criminals of the Depression era, Ralph Fults began his career of crime at the improbable age of fourteen. At nineteen he met Clyde Barrow in a Texas prison, and the two men together founded what would later be known as the Barrow gang. Running with Bonnie and Clyde is the story of Fults's experiences in the Texas criminal underworld between the years 1925 and 1935 and the gripping account of his involvement with the Barrow gang, particularly its notorious duo, Bonnie and Clyde. Fults's "ten fast years" were both dramatic and violent. As an adolescent he escaped numerous juvenile institutions and jails, was shot by an Oklahoma police officer, and was brutalized by prison guards. With Clyde, following their fateful meeting in 1930, he robbed a bank to finance a prison raid. After the ambush of Bonnie and Clyde, in 1934, he joined forces with Raymond Hamilton; together the two robbed more banks and eluded countless posses before Hamilton's capture and 1935 execution. One of the few survivors among numerous associates who ended up shot, stabbed, beaten to death, or executed, Fults was later able to reform himself, believing that the only reason he was spared was to reveal the darkest aspects of his past-and in so doing expose the circumstances that propel youth into crime. Author John Neal Phillips tells Fults's story in vivid and at times raw detail, recounting bank robberies, killings, and prison escapes, friendships, love affairs, and marriages. Dialogues based on actual conversations amongst the participants enhance the narrative's authenticity. Whereas in books and mms, Fults, Parker, Barrow, and Hamilton have been romanticized or depicted as one-dimensional, depraved characters, Running with Bonnie and Clyde shows them as real people, products of social, political, and economic forces that directed them into a life of crime and bound them to it for eternity. Although basing his account primarily on Fults's testimony, Phillips substantiates that viewpoint with references to scores of eyewitness interviews, police files and court documents, and contemporary news accounts. An important contribution to criminal and social history, Running with Bonnie and Clyde will be fascinating reading for scholars and general readers alike.

Genres: True Crime, History, Nonfiction, American History

416 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1996

Reviews

[RonnieRae · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I have said in my many other reviews of Bonnie and Clyde books- I often much prefer more personal insights into the Barrow gang and Bonnie and Clyde. This book provides that- partially due to the more primary sources, but also due to the fact that it is from the perspective of Fults, an old friend of them. This is overall a perfect recap of Bonnie and Clyde offering an extensive overview of their lives, their crimes, and their relationships.
For the first part of the book, the focus remains on Fults’ early life as well as an overview of corruption in the justice system and prisons, especially in the south and more specifically Texas. Fults offers a perspective that not even scholarly sources attempt, and that is the perspective of an inmate who lived through it. We as readers are forced to actual face the corruption and gross abuse of those in power and the justice system. We see firsthand the things both Fults and Clyde have to go through, including many run-ins with prison guards that almost get them killed. The fact that it’s so insightful and personal of a recap makes for further explanation of why Clyde and the Barrow gang turned out to be who they are- its insight that other books tend to shy away from, which only hurts the reasoning behind Bonnie and Clyde in the first place- if you don’t see the abuse and corruption they had to deal with, you can’t properly understand their motivations.
When the Barrow gang officially becomes the Barrow gang- with the escape from prison and their true beginning of their four years of crime and adventure, the book still doesn’t lose that personal insight. It’s something I far prefer as it makes them people rather than just history- actual living beings rather than just a headline. Bonnie and Clyde have small interactions here, their relationship is highlighted in this book in a way that the others don’t- from Clyde getting stuck under his title brother’s motorcycle, to Bonnie giving two little girls dolls, to the constant reminder of how affectionate and loving the pair were to each other, this book never loses sight of who they were as people. It even takes time to correct the many misconceptions and rumors that existed (and often still do) at the time of the Barrow gang- specifically defending Bonnie, which I can appreciate. It’s a source that sets out to show the true Bonnie and Clyde- a pair that weren’t nefarious killers who committed crime for fun and had zero empathy- but instead, a sort of found family fighting an unjust system.
This source takes its time, and actually works to mention smaller things and paint full scenes rather than just recapping their history. Fults strives to show how loving Clyde was to his family, how loyal and affectionate Bonnie was towards Clyde, how she cared about the people around her, it works to show their humor, their positive sides, their charm- something that many sources lose in an attempt to focus on the more “flashy” sides of their story or that are lost to incorrect information that has been adopted as true.
This source is also a good read- just in general. Many more historical papers and books can feel… hard to get through (something I found to be true with various sources on Joan of Arc in my JoA phase), but this book doesn’t do this. It genuinely feels like reading a novel about Bonnie and Clyde while being able to trust the truth of each moment and interaction. It has a sort of personality to the writing, brought to life through Fults’ writing of the various voices in the Barrow gang.
Basically, if you need a source about Bonnie and Clyde, this is for sure the one.

[Reed A · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished reading the book ”Running with Bonnie and Clyde: The Ten Fast Years of Ralph Fults.” Fults met up with Clyde in prison, worked with him and Bonnie in 1932, and followed their escapades until their deaths.

Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were two outlaws from the slums of West Dallas in the Depression Era of the 1930s. They were two “kids” that wanted to escape their poverty and make a name for themselves. A lot of their criminal activities were filled with idiosyncrasies, bungled up plans, and misfortunes.

At the young age of 20, Clyde was sent to the notorious prison work farm in Eastham, Texas for some bogus minor criminal charges, where he was brutalized, raped, and turned into a hardened criminal. Barrow was released in 1932, hating law enforcement and vowing to break out prisoners in Eastham whenever he got up enough money, guns, and men...thus began the crime sprees of the Barrow gang with his true love Bonnie, whom Clyde met through family acquaintances.

For three years, from 1932 till their death in 1934, this couple stole numerous cars and robbed banks, businesses, and national armories throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Louisiana. Each year found Bonnie and Clyde working with new ruffians and miscreants who had a grudge against society and law enforcement. They wanted to make a name for themselves, as well as to have money in this time of poverty and living hand and mouth throughout the nation.

The most infamous, well known, and documented year for this famous couples was 1933. That year was when Clyde’s older brother Buck, his wife Blanche, and 16 year old W.D. Jones joined them. This is also the year of the famous shootouts in Joplin and North Platte, Missouri; the car accident in Oklahoma, crippling and scarring Bonnie; and the death of Buck and capture of Blanche in Dexfield, Iowa. These events are portrayed inaccurately in the movie “Bonnie and Clyde.”

In May of 1934, the couple decided to hide away for a short time in a cabin in the back hills of Louisiana near Mount Lebanon, unaware of the betrayal from a friend and an accomplice of theirs who ratted them out to the law. In the early hours of May 23, an ambush awaited them in a ditch on the side of the road, when six police officers blasted their V-8 sedan as they drove by. This killed them, ending this couple’s short-lived reign of terror and crime!
This is the second book I have read about this couple who have always fascinated me!

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Philips has done an admirable job mastering the many sources that went into. researching this book that focuses on one of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow’s running buddies, Ralph Fults. Philips details the Parker-Barrow crew’s brief exploits in exhaustive and unromantic detail, always keeping one eye on the brutality of the Texas prison system. It was Clyde Barrow’s victimization in Eastham Prison—he was repeatedly beaten and raped as a 15-year-old—that launched him on the outlaw life; his fantasy, once he got out, was a major prison break that would simultaneously help his friends and humiliate the prison guards and administration that brutalized him. All of his and Bonnie’s actions—bank robberies, car thefts, and national guard armory break-ins—were aimed at this goal, at least in their own minds. Philips focuses on the blow-by-blow details of the gang’s confrontation with police and prisons, sometimes neglecting history that would also contextualize their actions. Nevertheless, it is a fascinating look at how a brutalizing penal system created a generation of terrifying criminals in the 1930s.

[Patricia Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

ralph was 19 when he first met clyde barrow they hung around together from 1925-1935...
marie barrow said this is the best and most truthful book written on her brother clyde and bonnie
ray hamilton was a friend and thief they knew
bonnie was afraid of guns and waited in the getaway car she drove
bonnie was still wearing her wedding ring when she was killed even though her and her husband were seperated for years and she was wearing a cross necklace when she died
alot of the police in the ambush knew and liked bonnie from the resturants she worked at and felt bad about her dying

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author was interviewed in the DVD, The decades collection: 1930-1939. He was a very credible authority on the story of Bonnie and Clyde, and I decided to read the book. Glad I did -- it was very interesting!


Clyde Barrow was an extremely skilled and resourceful outlaw. His exploits, and his abilities to get out of a jam, probably surpass those of Jesse James. Who was highly good at this. Unlike Jesse James, who kept most of his stolen money for himself, Clyde Barrow gave away most of what he took. Clyde did not seem to have a great interest in money, despite his great ability to acquire it (albeit by theft).

Clyde Barrow and Jesse James did have a critical thing in common: both had been brutalized by bad treatment from people in authority. Jesse James, at about age 16, was roughed up by Union soldiers who were looking for guerrilla fighters from the Confederacy. Clyde Barrow was in prison, in one of the notorious Texas prison farms, and saw the incredible cruelty of the guards there. At a time when prisoners were shot by the guards for any reason the guards chose. Jesse and Clyde both set out with the same idea: Get even.

Bonnie Parker joined up because she was in love with Clyde. She did little of the criminal work, other than driving get-away cars.

The movie version of Bonnie and Clyde was reasonably factual, as it turned out. I saw that movie when it first came out (1967?), my Mom was mad as a hornet because I went to "watch such trash" and my Dad promptly took away the car keys for a few weeks. The movie was worth all that, and more.

[Joe Stunner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A "must read" for anyone interested in the Bonnie and Clyde legend. Fults' time with the outlaw couple is recounted in fascinating but unsentimental detail; it's almost miraculous that he avoided the electric chair and made it all the way into old age. Philips' writing style is easy on the brain, making the narrative all the more compelling, and capturing a vivid feel of the backdrop era. Jeff Guinn's recent biography on Bonnie and Clyde is an excellent read but owes much to this book and its deservedly acclaimed historian author.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would say that John Neal Phillips, is probably the modern day expert on Bonnie and Clyde. He has a wealth of knowledge that cannot be claimed. His research is intricate and factual. He is probably one of the best historians in this era on Bonnie and Clyde.

[Eddie Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Great insight on one of the early Barrow gang members and experiences with Bonnie and Clyde. Really enjoyed reading about Mr. Fults and his experience after Bonnie and Clyde as well. Good insight on Ray Hamilton. All in all a great read.

[Julien Gorbach · Rating 5 out of 5]

The definitive history of Bonnie and Clyde, meticulously researched.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty good