The Kidnap Years: The Astonishing True History of the Forgotten Kidnapping Epidemic That Shook Depression-Era America

by David Stout

Overview

A chilling true crime book that chronicles the wave of abductions that terrorized the U.S. during the Great Depression, including the most infamous kidnapping case in American history.

"A thrilling account that puts the 1932 Lindbergh baby kidnapping case, billed as "the crime of the century," in the context of the thousands of other kidnappings that occurred in the U.S. during the Prohibition and Depression eras...will enthrall true crime fans."—Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

The Great Depression was a time of desperation in America—parents struggled to feed their children and unemployment was at a record high. Adding to the lawlessness of the decade, thugs with submachine guns and corrupt law-enforcement officers ran rampant. But amidst this panic, there was one sure-fire way to make money, one used by criminals and resourceful civilians alike: kidnapping.

Jump into this forgotten history with Edgar Award-winning author David Stout as he explores the reports of missing people that inundated newspapers at the time. Learn the horrifying details of these abduction cases, from the methods used and the investigative processes to the personal histories of the culprits and victims. All of this culminates with the most infamous kidnapping in American history, the one that targeted an international celebrity and changed legislation forever: the Lindbergh kidnapping.

The Kidnap Years is a gritty, visceral, thoughtfully reported page-turner that chronicles the sweep of abductions that afflicted all corners of the country as desperate people were pushed to do the unthinkable.

Fans of The Postman Always Rings Twice and other 30s and 40s American Noir crime novels will be fascinated by the true crime of the times.

"A fascinating crime book like no other."—David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781492694793
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	04/07/2020
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	1,131,906
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 8.80(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

David Stout writes for the NYT and other outlets and is the Edgar Award-winning author of six books. He lives in Washington, DC with his wife.

Table of Contents

Introduction xiii

1 The Organization Man 1

2 Fathers and Sons 12

3 The Doctor 22

4 A Dressmaker with a Vision 35

5 Beloved Innocent 41

6 The Boy in the Wall 46

7 The Younger Twin 51

8 Sane or Insane? 64

9 A Case Like No Other 69

10 A Friendly Farmer 78

11 Another Doctor Taken 87

12 Hope and Heartbreak 92

13 Chasing the Money 97

14 The Profiler 100

15 Two Victims 107

16 The Man Who Loved Trees 117

17 Strictly Business 125

18 Criminal and Family Man 131

19 In the Mile High City 135

20 A Brewer Is Taken 152

21 Doting Mother, Devoted Sons 159

22 A Sheriff Taken Prisoner 166

23 From Hot Springs to Slaughter 170

24 Mary's Ordeal 180

25 "Jake the Barber" 187

26 Roger "the Terrible" 191

27 A Prince of Albany 196

28 A Banker with a Heart 204

29 The Oil Tycoon 212

30 A Momentous Month 230

31 The People's Fury Unleashed 236

32 Touhy's Torment Continues 247

33 Brewer, Banker, Victim 251

34 A Gambler Folds His Hand 258

35 What Might Have Been 262

36 A Sordid Denouement 265

37 Evil Resurfaces 274

38 In Gun-Blazing Pursuit 288

39 Vigilance at the Gas Pump 299

40 Closing the Ring 312

41 In the World's Spotlight 324

42 Heir to a Timber Empire 335

43 Devil at the Door 348

44 Ambushed on the Road 354

45 A Man of God Is Taken 363

46 The Luckless One 372

47 Tubbo and Touhy (Act II) 377

Epilogue 391

Reading Group Guide 395

A Conversation with the Author 397

Bibliography and List of Sources 401

Acknowledgments 405

Endnotes 407

Index 419

About the Author 431

Editorial Reviews

…[a] gripping page-turner…Besides being the most conspicuously well-written book on the shelf, this study views the subject of kidnapping from the perspective of a nation that had fallen on truly hard times.

The New York Times Book Review - Marilyn Stasio

★ 03/23/2020

Edgar-winner Stout (Carolina Skeletons) makes his nonfiction debut with a thrilling account that puts the 1932 Lindbergh baby kidnapping case, billed as “the crime of the century,” in the context of the thousands of other kidnappings that occurred in the U.S. during the Prohibition and Depression eras. The kidnappers were often gangsters and bootleggers, and relatives sometimes turned to the local mob for help in freeing the victims. Even Charles Lindbergh, early in the investigation into his son’s kidnapping, asked gangsters for help. But even after Lindbergh paid the ransom, the baby’s body was found by the side of the road with a fractured skull and four years passed Richard Hauptmann was tried and executed for the crime, though he denied any involvement. Other horrific outcomes include the case of a 12-year-old California girl who was kidnapped in 1927 and whose body was returned to her parents in pieces after the ransom was paid. Some kidnappings had much better outcomes, such as that of banker August Luer, who was released unharmed after his kidnappers got tired of taking care of him. Dialogue taken from the printed news reports of the time heightens the drama. This collection of kidnapping stories anchored by the Lindbergh case will enthrall true crime fans. Agent: Deborah Hofmann, David Black Literary. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"Stout reconstructs these long-overlooked cases in rich detail, mining newspaper accounts and interviews with descendants of some of the victims... The Kidnap Years is a captivating journey into the crime that helped to define the Depression era.

" — Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

"David Stout’s The Kidnap Years is not only a riveting, page-turning collection of sensational true crime stories but a brilliant work of social history, a long-overdue examination of one of the most infamous chapters in the annals of American crime—the 1930s kidnapping epidemic." — Harold Schechter, author of Deranged: The Shocking True Story of America’s Most Fiendish Killer

"Blending meticulous research, the personal experiences of a seasoned journalist and a reader-friendly prose style, Dave Stout has produced a terrific book. If anyone has the chops to tackle this grim but compelling subject, it is Stout, an Edgar-award winning novelist, the author of other important true crime books and a longtime editor and reporter for the New York Times whose reporting assignments once required him to witness and a write about a state-sanctioned execution. " — Neal Hirschfeld, author of Detective: The Insipirational Story of the Trailblazing Woman Cop Who Wouldn’t Quit

"At turns fascinating and heartbreaking, this expertly crafted history is a must-read for true crime aficionados." — Library Journal, STARRED Review

"A fascinating crime book like no other." — David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist

"David Stout’s The Kidnap Years is a great read and great history–a rollicking, often nail-biting chronicle of the wave of kidnappings that overwhelmed law-enforcement agencies in the Great Depression. New York Times-veteran Stout sheds important new light on the rise of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and on the "Crime of the Century"–the 1932 kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh’s baby son." — Philip Shenon, New York Times-bestselling author of A Cruel and Shocking Act: The Secret History of the Kennedy Assassination

"With a page-one eye for detail and trenchant prose, David Stout's The Kidnap Years feels like a Ken Burns documentary about the Depression-era phenomenon of kidnappings ripped from a police detective's whisky-soaked casebook. The spree of often violent abductions victimized the rich and celebrated, turned a few kidnappers into national anti-heroes and helped launch the careers of a generation of crime-fighting lawmen and prosecutors. The stories of these cases are as riveting as they are true." — David Johnston, former New York Times criminal justice reporter and co-author of Betrayal: The Story of Aldrich Ames, an American Spy

"David Stout combines a newsman’s savvy and a writer’s touch in recounting a chilling and wrenching era in American history. A must-read for true crime aficionados." — Eric Lichtblau, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author of The Nazis Next Door

"I feel vaguely guilty about having enjoyed The Kidnap Years so much. A lot of blameless people died and a lot of evil people did terrible things, but David Stout writes with so much innocent enthusiasm that his book is addictive. Using the kidnapping of the Lindbergh Baby as a thread running through the years from the late 1920s to the mid-1930s, we are regaled with stories about gangsters, prohibition, early kidnappers and their victims, the formation and development of the F.B.I., and the passing of the Federal Kidnapping Act of 1932. This can’t-put-down book reminds us that virtuoso detective work was done long before the discovery of DNA, and that criminals were being "profiled" well before the term to describe it came into common use." — Shelly Reuben, author of The Boys of Sabbath Street and Tabula Rasa

"A thrilling account that puts the 1932 Lindbergh baby kidnapping case, billed as "the crime of the century," in the context of the thousands of other kidnappings that occurred in the U.S. during the Prohibition and Depression eras... will enthrall true crime fans." — Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

"In this extensively researched and smartly focused true-crime compendium, award-winning Stout delves into the who, what, when, where, and how, if not necessarily the why, of this most frightening and exploitative of ordeals." — Booklist

From the Publisher

★ 04/01/2020

Journalist and Edgar Award-winning novelist Stout (Carolina Skeletons) brings to light the forgotten history of America's kidnapping epidemic. While Americans suffered with unemployment, poverty, and hunger during the Great Depression, resourceful criminals found kidnapping a lucrative enterprise in an era marked by lawlessness and corruption among law enforcement. Stout presents a deeply researched, perfectly paced history of kidnappings that affected everyone from bank presidents and lumber barons to beer brewers and the children of wealthy families. Interspersed with the nail-biting tales of the kidnappings are details about the trials, the criminals, and the formation of the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover's rise to power. True crime enthusiasts will recognize famous players, such as the Lindberghs and Machine Gun Kelly, but they'll also discover scores of "forgotten" cases. VERDICT At turns fascinating and heartbreaking, this expertly crafted history is a must-read for true crime aficionados.—Mattie Cook, Flat River Community Lib., MI

Library Journal