Ma Barker: America's Most Wanted Mother - Paperback

by Chris Enss (Author), Howard Kazanjian (Author)

Was Arizona Donnie Clark, AKA Kate "Ma" Barker the mastermind behind the Barker gang terrorizing the Midwest during the early years of the great Depression? Or was she a terrible mother who urged her sons to criminal behavior for her own financial gain? Or does the truth lie somewhere in between. This lively retelling of the legend of Ma Barker and her boys is full of action, intrigue, and the answers to mysteries that have lingered for more than 70 years.

Back Jacket

Kate Barker wanted the nice things of life: the lovely home, the fine clothes, and lots of money in the bank. She ended up with a police slug in her heart and $10,200 in her wallet. According to FBI records Kate Barker was an overbearing mother who somehow lost her bearings on the path of motherly love. In attempting to guide, she misguided. In trying to spread affection, she nurtured hate. The rational sense of motherly duty was warped by her desire to get the most and fastest for her boys. The boys got this: Son Herman was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1927 after a shootout with a Kansas traffic officer. Son Fred was riddled with eleven gunshot wounds in a police fight and died alongside his mother in 1935. Son Arthur (called Doc) was killed in 1939 during an attempted breakout of Alcatraz. Son Lloyd was slain by his wife in 1949 when she claimed he had threatened her and the children. That was the legacy of Ma Barker, a woman who saw crime as a means to an end but who never counted on things ending like they did.

Author Biography

Howard Kazanjian is an award-winning producer and entertainment executive who has been producing feature films and television programs for more than twenty-five years. While vice president of production for Lucasfilm Ltd., he produced two of the highest grossing films of all time: Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. He also managed production of another top-ten box-office hit, The Empire Strikes Back. Some of his other notable credits include The Rookies, Demolition Man, and the two-hour pilot and first season of J.A.G. Chris Enss is an award-winning screen writer who has written for television, short subject films, live performances, and for the movies, and is the co-author (with JoAnn Chartier) of Love Untamed: True Romances Stories of the Old West, Gilded Girls: Women Entertainers of the Old West, and She Wore A Yellow Ribbon: Women Patriots and Soldiers of the Old West and The Cowboy and the Senorita; Happy Trails; The Young Duke; and Thunder Over the Prairie--soon to be a motion picture-- with Howard Kazanjian. Her recent books include Frontier Teachers: Stories of Heroic Women of the Old West and The Doctor Wore Petticoats.