On the Lam, Ed Palattella
On the Lam, Ed Palattella
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
Club: $12.49

On the Lam
A History of Hunting Fugitives in America

Author: Ed Palattella, Jerry Clark

Narrator: Rick Adamson

Unabridged: 9 hr 9 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 09/30/2019


Synopsis

John Dillinger's capture obsessed J. Edgar Hoover and helped create the modern FBI. Violent student radicals who went on the lam in the 1960s reflected the turbulence of the era. The sixteen-year disappearance and sudden arrest of gangster James "Whitey" Bulger in 2011 captivated the nation. Fugitives have become iconic characters in American culture even as they have threatened public safety and the smooth operation of the justice system. They are always on the run, always trying to stay out of reach of the long arm of the law. Also prominent are the men and women who chase fugitives: FBI agents, federal marshals and their deputies, police officers, and bounty hunters.

A significant element of the justice system is dedicated to finding those on the run, and the most-wanted posters and true-crime television shows have made fugitives seemingly ubiquitous figures of fear and fascination for the public. In On the Lam, Jerry Clark and Ed Palattella trace the history of fugitives in the United States by looking at the characters—real and fictional—who have played the roles of the hunter and the hunted. They also examine the origins of the bail system and other legal tools, such as most-wanted programs, that are designed to guard against flight.

About Ed Palattella

Ed Palattella joined the Erie Times-News, in Erie, Pennsylvania, in 1990. He has won a number of awards, including for his investigative work and his coverage of crime.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Zeb on September 04, 2019

The concept of this book is to look at how we have dealt with people who have been convicted of committing a crime and left the community before they could be imprisoned or had escaped from incarceration. We took our laws from those that developed over the years in England. When we broke away from t......more

Goodreads review by John on May 19, 2024

An interesting recap of the work by the FBI and US Marshals as they searched for the most notorious fugitives in the US. A little text book like in its approach and some trite wording, so I would have made it 3.5 if that was an option. It’s better than a 3.......more

Goodreads review by Balancing on July 08, 2019

As far as nonfiction books go...this one is a must read! If you are interested in law enforcement, history or just interesting American stories, this book is a good one for you. I learned a lot about famous criminal manhunts throughout history and also learned about some new ones I had never heard o......more

Goodreads review by Cristie on September 22, 2019

The author's painstaking research and attention to detail is obvious in the writing of this book. There were many facts that I only discovered after reading this!......more