American Gangsters, Then and Now

Gr 9 Up—The writing in this compendium blazes with the glow of crime novels and gangbuster series while delivering loads of fascinating and gory details on American organized crime. Though a few pieces discuss schemes ("Numbers Racket," "Black Hand") and criminal topics ("Drug Trade," "Weapons"), most of Hendley's 44 entries cover individuals or groups from pre-Civil War-era gangs such as the Dead Rabbits to present-day criminals such as MS 13. Each entry is cross-referenced where appropriate and comes with a further-reading list; most also include a black-and-white photo. Hendley includes a helpful two-and-a-half-page glossary and a useful 10-page bibliography of print and web resources. Students wanting to do serious research on many of these figures will need to go beyond some of the familiar periodical databases. Therefore, this quality work, which comes with full-text online access, fills a niche.—Herman Sutter, St. Agnes Academy, Houston, TX