Customer Reviews

We're Dead, Come on in

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you are interested in the 1932 Springfield Police Massacre open your wallet and buy this boook. The author truly hits the mark when it comes to describing the actual gunbattle,the folks involved, and the investigation. The only problem is-- he apears to be out of his element when he attempts to give historical background concerning the depression era in the Ozarks,Pretty Boy Floyd, Oklahoma, etc. While he clumsily attempts to work in the Civil War battle of Wilsons Creek and the Bald Knobbers(in all the wrong places) he fails to mention such things as the Leonard Short Gang (A very high profile bunch of area bootleggers and bank robbers operating at the time)or the Bilyeu-Meadows fued. The book is also a bit structurally disorganized in places. But--best work to date concerning this interesting subject. Well written (style-wise). All in all--a bit flawed but a good read... R.D.Morgan... author of "The Tri-State Terror" and "Taming the Sooner State"

Very good history of Springfield and Greene County, Missouri during the 1930's for those dreadful days.

One of the better books I have read about deadly force incidents. It actually included photographs and, more importantly, diagrams of what occurred. Few authors bother with any diagrams and spend almost all their effort on background of the participants; as a result, readers of most such books know plenty about the actors but little about the actual event.

This author took the time to describe the events in detail and included the court testimony and diagrammed the incident. A much better account of this event is the result. I wish more books about unfortunate incidents took this author's approach.

I agree with an earlier reviewer...I'd love to see this turned into a movie. I live just a couple of hours from Springfield and had never heard of this incident until last year. This book was well-written and I gobbled it up over the weekend. Bravo to the author for helping keep the memory of this incident alive.

While this book is not perfect no book is. This is by far the best book on the subject, and what was even more interesting to me were the small details included. I have spent many hours going to the different addresses and the graves of the participants mentioned in the text to get a feel for the history. The revelation of numerous other crimes and murders in this area has given me a treasure of local history to research as well. It would be great if someone in Hollywood (like Springfield native Brad Pitt) would option this and make a serious historically accurate movie about the incident..