- Why do Americans alternately celebrate and condemn gangsters, outlaws and corrupt politicians
?
- Why do they immortalize Al Capone while forgetting his more successful contemporaries George Remus or Roy Olmstead?
- Why are some public figures repudiated for their connections to the mob while others gain celebrity status?
Drawing on historical accounts, in Organized Crime in the United States 1865-1941, author Kristofer Allerfeldt analyzes the public’s understanding of organized crime and questions some of our most deeply held assumptions about crime and its role in society.
Allerfeldt is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Exeter. He has published extensively on American history, with a special interest in the history of American crime and its interpretation. He lives in the United Kingdom.