about the book
John Taliaferro Thompson envisioned a lightweight, fast-firing gun to aid the U.S. military on the battlefield. His invention, the Tommy gun, with its ability to fire a hundred bullets within seconds, instead blasted into notoriety.
Not accepted by the U.S. military, the gun fell into the hands of bootleggers and bank-robbers, becoming a deadly American icon as the gun of choice for the bloody decade following the invention. As Congress attempted to remove the Tommy from the streets, a national gun control debate arose—eighty years preceding the mass shootings of today.
This gun went down in history—changing lives, abetting crimes, and beginning a debate to last decades.
about the author
You wouldn’t think a person who analyzes and reports on national and personal financial issues would be good at writing for young readers, but Karen Blumenthal excels at it. In everything from girls’ access to Prohibition gangsters to sports, Karen is determined to make both history and current issues exciting and memorable reading for young adults.
Karen earned an MBA from Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business and a AB in Economics from Duke University.
She has been the Business Editor at the Dallas Morning News, a reporter and editor for The Wall Street Journal, and currently writes a column in the journal about personal finances. As a financial expert, Karen has appeared on ABC, World News Tonight, the Today Show, CNN, and PBS Nightly Business Report. She is also a visiting business journalism professor at Texas Christian University.
Karen lives with her husband and two daughters in Dallas, Texas.
Sources:
Author website
Author biography: Goodreads
Also by Karen Blumenthal:
Hillary Rodham Clinton : A Woman Living History. Feiwel and Friends. 2016.
Steve Jobs : The Man Who Thought Different. Feiwel and Friends. 2012.
Bootleg : Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition. Flashpoint. 2011.
Mr. Sam : How Sam Walton Built Wal-Mart and Became America’s Richest Man. Viking Juvenile. 2011.
Let Me Play : The Story of Title IX. Atheneum Books for Young Readers. 2005.
Six Days in October : The Stock Market Crash of 1929. Atheneum Books for Young Readers. 2002.
read more!
Bootleg : Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition by Karen Blumenthal
Beginning with the history of temperance movements in the U.S., this book discusses protests, petitions, and activism which eventually resulted in the ratification of the 18th Amendment, which banned the production and sale of alcohol. The effects of this law, which were largely the opposite of what was intended, ignited one of the most crime-filled periods in American history.
Lincoln’s Spymaster : Allan Pinkerton, America’s First Private Eye by Samantha Seiple
The man who laid the groundwork for America’s Secret Service, Allan Pinkerton, started as a barrel maker in Illinois. After taking his first case as a private detective, he soon opened the first ever private detective agency with his own team of undercover agents. His team began fighting outlaws and discovering assassination plots, and Pinkerton soon became Lincoln’s most trusted spymaster.
Shot All to Hell : Jesse James, The Northfield Raid, and the Wild West’s Greatest Escape by Mark Lee Gardner
Jesse James and his group of outlaws held up the bank in Northfield, Minnesota, the most legendary robbery in history. The two-week chase became one of the largest manhunts in history, inspiring authorities and citizens alike to work towards their capture. The chase ended with a bloody shootout on the Watonwan River. Gardner explores the crime, the pursuit, and the end of the outlaws.