What do you think?
Rate this book
Wanted Women: An American Obsession in the Reign of J. Edgar Hoover
The iconic photo of Bonnie Parker—cigar clenched in jaw, pistol in hand—says it all: America loves its bad girls. Now Mary Elizabeth Strunk tells us why.
Wanted Women is a startling look at the lives—and legends—of ten female outlaws who gained notoriety during the tumultuous decades that bracketed the tenure of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. Strunk looks at real-life events and fictional portrayals to decipher what our obsession with these women says about shifting gender roles, evolving law-enforcement practices, and American cultural attitudes in general.
These women’s stories reveal what it takes—and what it has meant—to be a high-profile female lawbreaker in America. Strunk introduces us to Kathryn “Mrs. Machine Gun” Kelly, Ma Barker, and Bonnie Parker from the 1930s, and, from the 1970s, we meet heiress-turned-revolutionary Patty Hearst, five other women of the Symbionese Liberation Army, and Black Panther Assata Shakur. All saw themselves as struggling against an oppressive legal system. All became “wanted” criminals and would play a part in shaping Hoover’s legacy. And all spent enormous amounts of energy attempting to manipulate public opinion in their favor.
Strunk argues that each woman’s public persona was to some degree invented by Hoover, who saw outlaw women as an alarming threat to public morality. He went after them with a vengeance, but in many ways his obsession only added to their reputations. Strunk shows how Hoover’s repeated use of popular culture to publicize the threat of violent women initially succeeded in strengthening his FBI, but his approach became a liability by the time law enforcement was pitted against the women outlaws of the 1970s.
The book chronicles the careers of these infamous outlaws both in the real world and in popular culture—film, ads, true-crime stories, autobiographies—as well as Hoover’s own forays into filmmaking. It boasts 27 compelling images of movie stills, wanted posters, and other ephemera that have been assembled nowhere else, including rarely reproduced SLA artifacts.
Strunk’s book is the first study to define the narrow “formula” necessary for a woman to cross over from criminal to outlaw. Hitting on key notes of American culture from Black and gender studies to cinematic and legal history, Wanted Women sets a new benchmark for how we view women and crime as it contributes fresh insights into twentieth-century social history.
Wanted Women is a startling look at the lives—and legends—of ten female outlaws who gained notoriety during the tumultuous decades that bracketed the tenure of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. Strunk looks at real-life events and fictional portrayals to decipher what our obsession with these women says about shifting gender roles, evolving law-enforcement practices, and American cultural attitudes in general.
These women’s stories reveal what it takes—and what it has meant—to be a high-profile female lawbreaker in America. Strunk introduces us to Kathryn “Mrs. Machine Gun” Kelly, Ma Barker, and Bonnie Parker from the 1930s, and, from the 1970s, we meet heiress-turned-revolutionary Patty Hearst, five other women of the Symbionese Liberation Army, and Black Panther Assata Shakur. All saw themselves as struggling against an oppressive legal system. All became “wanted” criminals and would play a part in shaping Hoover’s legacy. And all spent enormous amounts of energy attempting to manipulate public opinion in their favor.
Strunk argues that each woman’s public persona was to some degree invented by Hoover, who saw outlaw women as an alarming threat to public morality. He went after them with a vengeance, but in many ways his obsession only added to their reputations. Strunk shows how Hoover’s repeated use of popular culture to publicize the threat of violent women initially succeeded in strengthening his FBI, but his approach became a liability by the time law enforcement was pitted against the women outlaws of the 1970s.
The book chronicles the careers of these infamous outlaws both in the real world and in popular culture—film, ads, true-crime stories, autobiographies—as well as Hoover’s own forays into filmmaking. It boasts 27 compelling images of movie stills, wanted posters, and other ephemera that have been assembled nowhere else, including rarely reproduced SLA artifacts.
Strunk’s book is the first study to define the narrow “formula” necessary for a woman to cross over from criminal to outlaw. Hitting on key notes of American culture from Black and gender studies to cinematic and legal history, Wanted Women sets a new benchmark for how we view women and crime as it contributes fresh insights into twentieth-century social history.
- GenresHistory
270 pages, Hardcover
First published September 18, 2010
39 people want to read
About the author
Mary Elizabeth Strunk
3 books5 followersMary Elizabeth Strunk is an associate of Five Colleges, Incorporated. She writes and teaches in Western Massachusetts.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 9, 2012
Really strong in the first few chapters. Good feminist deconstruction. But in the modern cases switches to just a review of media and the stories. Overall disappointing
June 10, 2016
I disliked the cover, which cheapened the book . . . but perusing the book, one comes to understand that the author is weaving the feminine criminal's similarities with FBI involvement and the media circus it created. I also disliked the hoity-toity verbiage thrown in for a feeble attempt to elevate the prose to "collegiate" level. In essence, this is a glorified "paper," with the attendant introduction, notes and bibliography.
The author is describing the material and touching upon it in a hit-and-miss fashion, instead of simply describing the incidents in a lineal manner. Chapter 2, "Mother Barker . . . " opens up with Bruno Hauptmann and others.
So, in that sense, the cheap (comic book) cover befits the material, and I disliked it--wholeheartedly.
The author is describing the material and touching upon it in a hit-and-miss fashion, instead of simply describing the incidents in a lineal manner. Chapter 2, "Mother Barker . . . " opens up with Bruno Hauptmann and others.
So, in that sense, the cheap (comic book) cover befits the material, and I disliked it--wholeheartedly.
May 3, 2017
I don't like to speak too poorly about books because getting one published is such a huge accomplishment. But I really didn't enjoy this one very much. It's obvious the author did a lot of research, and she offers some insightful analysis. But it reads more like a term paper than a book. I had a hard time staying focused and interested because the book had a tendency to just talk at you rather than tell you a story. It did have a few intriguing moments where I noticed I was turning pages faster than before. But I still need to follow this one up with a piece of fiction.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews