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Diane Simmons
About the book
Most people know of the Lindbergh kidnapping, the crime that rocked America and the world in 1932. But few know that the Lindbergh “snatch” inspired hundreds of copycat kidnappings, so many that the New York Times ran the headline, “Kidnapping Wave Sweeps Nation.” Here in the depths of the Depression, people were desperate. Then came repeal of Prohibition in late 1933, which meant that bootlegging—which supported so many ordinary people for so long--was over. And the banks, previously soft targets for kids like Bonnie and Clyde, had become armed fortresses. For many, kidnapping seemed like the only option. And In 1935, three young, would-be criminals in the Far West undertook the last of the big-time kidnappings, the Weyerhaeuser snatch.
About Diane Simmons
Diane Simmons is the author of numerous award-winning works of fiction, non-fiction, journalism and criticism.
A Westerner and former newspaper and magazine reporter in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska, Simmons holds a BA in history, an MA in Creative Writing, and a Ph.D. in English literature. She is Professor Emerita at City University of New York and a former Fulbright Fellow to the Czech Republic.
She is active with Maplewood, NJ Democrats, Third Act New Jersey, and the PEN American Center Prison Writing Committee.
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