Capone: The Man and the Era

As no one has yet reviewed this book, I will put my two cents in. I was a fan of Bergreen's biography of Louis Armstrong, so I had high expectations of this biography of Capone.

Bergreen does not disappoint. He attacks his subject with an investigative journalist's knack for uncovering revealing new facts. He paints a convincing and colorful portrait of Chicagoland in the Roaring Twenties. He also manages to make Capone somewhat sympathetic despite also portraying him as a probable sociopath. The most incredible revelation is that one of Capone's brothers was a still-busting Prohibition agent in Nebraska who masqueraded as a cowboy. This is almost too sublimely ridiculous to be true, and yet it is.

The only criticism I have is that show more Bergreen perhaps stretches the implications of Capone's apparent battle with syphilis farther than the known facts warrant. Having said that, however, this is probably as close as we'll ever get to the enigmatic criminal kingpin. show less

Interesting, informative story of Capone and his times, as well as those men like Eliot Ness trying to catch him. As usual, the author finds some good things to say about Capone the criminal while savaging Ness, probably justifiably. All in all, however, a bit overlong and Bergreen's narrative never really catches fire. You'll read this because it is an interesting story - not because it is well told.

Bergreen tells the story of Al Capone and his times and he tells it very well. He draws some interesting contrasts between racketeers of the roaring 20s like Capone and later outlaws such as John Dilliinger, Bonnie and Clyde, the Barker gang etc. Capone comes across as a ruthless criminal however one with a gift for organization. The Capone organization had no involvement with the Mafia, he points out, which was Sicilian and the Capones were from Naples where the camorra held sway. He also describes the influence tertiary syphilis had on Capone both before and after his conviction for tax evasion. His description of Eliot Ness and J.Edgar Hoover and their minuscule role in bringing done Capone was just as interesting as the story of show more Capone himself and his rather odd and somewhat sad older brother "Two-Gun" Hart. Don't be put off by the length of this book (600 plus pages), it is well written and a pleasure to read. show less

Al Capone is one of my favorite topics of interest. The book is lengthy about 700 pages but engrossing. I'm not sure all the facts are accurate or fact at all. There's no real proof Capone had a long time history with cocaine use but the author states it is based on one medical examination that discovered he had a perforated septum. The hole in his nose could've come from his syphilis. A lot of the book read mores like opinion still a decent read.