Kendra's Reviews > The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum: The Rise and Fall of an American Organized-Crime Boss

This is a fascinating account of Fredericka Mandelbaum, who ran an enormous empire of stolen goods and was the money behind various bank heists in the New York of the so-called Gilded Age, when economic disparity grew by leaps and bounds. Fox chronicles Mandelbaum--aka "Marm"--from her arrival in New York to her flight to Canada after being arrested, recounting Marm's training of thieves, her rivals in organized crime, and her upper-crust social life as a hostess to judges and others in the social elite. Some of the quotes run a little long, but I appreciate the context Fox gives for Marm's activities. The title of the book and the titles of several chapters refer to current pop culture and will draw in some readers, but may not age well. i realize that Fox uses Mandelbaum's first name in order not to have pages and pages full of "Marm" and "Mandelbaum," but authors have traditionally used women's first names and men's last names as a way of showing the relative importance of them; I prefer that everyone is called by their last name, only using first names when there is the possibility of confusion, although here, "Marm" is clear and doesn't diminish Mandelbaum.