Eliot Ness

Starred review from November 4, 2013
Though he’s now a revered as the lawman who helped bring down the Chicago Mob and Al Capone, Eliot Ness was all but forgotten by the time he died, virtually penniless, in 1957, at age 55. Ironically, a book touting his dramatic efforts would hit stores just six months later. With a shrewd mix of drama, insight, and objectivity, Perry (The Girls of Murder City) artfully chronicles the life of the leader of the “Untouchables” squad and illuminates his subject’s complicated worldview, passions, and faults. An introverted misfit and perfectionist, Ness perpetually felt like an outsider until he found his way to the nascent Prohibition Bureau. Under constant threat of violence, particularly in the early days, Ness thrived, leading his department on daring raids in a tireless effort to take down Capone, something Ness would later characterize as an obsession. Though he later made great strides fighting crime and corruption as public safety director in Cleveland (though the pursuit of a sadistic serial killer proved elusive), he would never regain the esteem he once enjoyed. By WWII, Ness was scraping for work. After an unsuccessful effort to become mayor of Cleveland, Ness all but gave up. A drunken ramble in the presence of a reporter led to the publication of his biography, which turned out to be too little too late to save the real Ness, though it did much to burnish his posthumous fame—a cruel twist to a story full of them. Photos. Agent: Jim Donovan, Jim Donovan Literary.

January 1, 2014
A thorough recounting of the career of Eliot Ness (1903-1957), from humble beginning to humble ending, with spectacular fame in between. Al Capone may have gone to prison for tax evasion, but Perry (The Girls of Murder City: Fame, Lust, and the Beautiful Killers Who Inspired Chicago, 2010) understands that the name Ness is synonymous with shutting down Capone's bootleg operation. The author ably shows that there was far more to Ness' career than just his battles with Capone, with accomplishments that may even outweigh his work during Prohibition. Unlike many of his colleagues, Ness did not fade into the background when the law was repealed. After a short stint in Cincinnati, he moved to Cleveland, where the mayor made him director of public safety with instructions to clean up the city. His years in Cleveland were probably the best of his career, with Ness implementing many firsts in the police department that are now standard procedure. Unfortunately, after leaving Cleveland, Ness never re-entered law enforcement and wasn't successful in his other work. Alongside intense and energetic investigative tales, Perry injects humor into the story with anecdotes--e.g., when a Cleveland patrolman, gun drawn, stopped Ness on the street. Though Ness identified himself, the patrolman was skeptical, insisting he was just as likely to be President Franklin D. Roosevelt. "Eliot carefully produced his ID and said that, with FDR's approval, he would like to be on his way," writes the author. Perry also peppers the book with his own colorful language. While this works in his favor when he calls a bad area of town "Cleveland's colostomy bag," it is jarring and off-kilter when he writes that Ness "gave Stafford a little smile, savoring the moment like a postcoital cigarette." Despite minor flaws, there is much to learn and enjoy for crime-solving fans and American history buffs.

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December 1, 2013

Perry's (The Girls of Murder City) newest historical work about famed Al Capone fighter Eliot Ness tells the story of a complicated and often uncompromising man who cleaned up not only Chicago but Depression-era Cleveland before losing himself to alcoholism and lack of direction. The book is well researched and contains extensive footnotes, which will no doubt satisfy academics, but Perry writes in a style that is readable, fast-paced, and empathetic. Unlike Ness and Oscar Fraley's heavily embellished text The Untouchables, which Fraley published after Ness's death, this volume is founded in fact. The book makes Ness's life not just a series of victories over crime and corruption but, ultimately, portrays a driven man with deep flaws who was able to do great things. Perry's title shows Ness the man, not Ness the legend. VERDICT Recommended for historical crime buffs, biography fans, and the general reader.--Amelia Osterud, Carroll Univ. Lib., Waukesha, WI

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2014
In the feature film and the television series, both titled The Untouchables, Eliot Ness is portrayed as the stolid, upright federal agent who relentlessly and successfully pursued Al Capone and destroyed Capone's Chicago empire. Recent revisionist histories have convincingly illustrated that Ness' role in bringing down Capone was tangential. But Perry, an award-winning journalist, asserts that Ness still should be honored as a highly successful lawman, especially after leaving Chicago, when he served as a public-safety director in the corrupt and crime-ridden city of Cleveland. The real Ness was a far more interesting and flawed person than the cartoonlike character of television and film. He was ambitious, charming, and innovative, but he was also reckless in both his personal and public life, and he died in debt and obscurity. Perry recounts both his rise and decline with the proper mix of objectivity and compassion for a man who deserves some degree of respect and admiration.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)