Lecture Date: February 17, 2015
Al Capone may be the most infamous criminal in American history, and he is also one of the most misunderstood. Born in 1899 into a large family of Italian immigrants in Brooklyn, Capone dropped out of school to help support his family. He stumbled through jobs as a dishwasher, bartender, and bouncer, showing no particular ambition or talent. But when prohibition became the law and Americans displayed a willingness to break the law and continue drinking, Capone found himself with an opportunity to quickly acquire wealth and influence. In a sense, he lived the American Dream, only his version included more Tommy guns that most. Capone became one of the most prominent and powerful bootleggers of the 1920s, but he accomplished this not merely with violence. He proved a likable and shrewd businessman who built more alliances than he shattered. He killed some of his rivals but more often he succeeded by outsmarting or outlasting them. His biggest mistake, in the end, was not his tendency toward violence but his love of publicity. Long after he had tamed Chicago’s crooked police, Capone became the target of the federal government because President Herbert Hoover himself wanted to make an example of the man who had become the symbol of a nation’s lawlessness. Jonathan Eig’s talk will break down the Hollywood myths and reveal the real Capone.
Lecture Photos
Speaker: Jonathan Eig
Jonathan Eig is the New York Times best-selling author of four books:Luckiest Man, Opening Day, Get Capone, and, most recently, The Birth of the Pill, published in October, 2014. He is currently working on a biography of Muhammad Ali. Before writing books, Jonathan worked as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Chicago magazine , The Dallas Morning News, and the New Orleans Times-Picayune. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, Esquire, and The Washington Post. He has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, NPR, and in the Prohibition documentary made by Ken Burns for PBS, as well as on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.