Bonnie and Clyde: Love and Poverty
When passion is the only bright thing in an otherwise
dark world
by
Clark Hays
Both were born into absolute poverty with
no way to get out. Clyde’s family was so poor, when they moved to the slums of
West Dallas looking for work they lived under their wagon for months. Like many
young men at the time, Clyde wanted more than he could afford, and certainly more
than spotty employment of the Depression era could finance.
The real catastrophe of Bonnie and Clyde,
aside from the lives damaged and lost, is that they found in each other a love that
likely could have sustained them on any path they chose. If things had turned
out just a little differently, if Wall Street hadn’t plunged the country into
the Great Depression, if the prison system had protected a teenaged Clyde from
assault, of they’d tried their hand at different jobs, we might never have
known their story.
“People are rendered ferocious by misery.”
Mary Wollstonecraft — a writer, philosopher
and fierce advocate of women’s rights (and mother of Mary Shelley, author of
Frankenstein) — wrote these words more than 200 years ago, but they certainly
ring true when considering the social and economic conditions that gave rise to
the legend of Bonnie and Clyde.
Both were born into absolute poverty with
no way to get out. Clyde’s family was so poor, when they moved to the slums of
West Dallas looking for work they lived under their wagon for months. Like many
young men at the time, Clyde wanted more than he could afford, and certainly more
than spotty employment of the Depression era could finance.
Clyde’s first brush with the law came from failing
to return a rental car on time; after that, it was stolen turkeys. Once he drew
the attention of law enforcement, it wasn’t long before he entered a brutal
prison system that used prisoners for profit — free agricultural labor — and
ignored horrific conditions inside (Clyde was a victim of sexual assault). He was
so desperate to get out, he chopped off two of his toes.
Bonnie had it better, but not by much.
Options were limited for poor young women, especially in those days — a quick marriage
and a hard lifetime of taking care of a large family was her best hope. She tried
that, marrying a philandering criminal at 16. It didn’t last long. She always harbored
dreams of a better life as a Hollywood starlet, but the slums of West Dallas
didn’t offer many opportunities to get noticed.
Then she met Clyde, and he noticed her.
We all know how it turned out after that —
from desperation to crime, from crime to violence, and from violence to a
gruesome death in a bloody ambush in which more than 100 rounds were shot at
them, their bodies brutalized almost beyond recognition.
Poverty does not, of course, excuse a life
of crime, but it’s certainly an enabler, and that’s the crucible in which
Bonnie and Clyde were forged. They likely would have been reviled by their
contemporaries and forgotten by history if not for one other element that
transformed the anger and despair, the rage and hopelessness, into something else,
something that transcended their crimes and cemented them into the popular imagination:
true love.
Collectively, Americans — and even those
outside of this country — largely remain fascinated by Bonnie and Clyde because,
in spite of thieving and murdering, the violence and destruction, they found
each other and held on until the bitter, violent end. Misery may render people
ferocious, but hopelessness sometimes renders them inseparable. Bonnie and
Clyde became the ultimate doomed lovers, finding the kind of love that eclipses
all rational thought, all problems, all concerns with right or wrong. Their
burned so brightly, it momentarily outshined the misery they tried to leave
behind and the misery they inflicted on others.
The real catastrophe of Bonnie and Clyde,
aside from the lives damaged and lost, is that they found in each other a love that
likely could have sustained them on any path they chose. If things had turned
out just a little differently, if Wall Street hadn’t plunged the country into
the Great Depression, if the prison system had protected a teenaged Clyde from
assault, of they’d tried their hand at different jobs, we might never have
known their story.
But of course, their powerful love wasn’t
enough to prevent things from spiralling out of control.
In our speculative history series about
Bonnie and Clyde, we give them a second chance and an opportunity to atone.
Their love becomes a lodestar, guiding them into a new life.
In the first book, Bonnie and Clyde: Resurrection Road, that new life begins when a mysterious government agent, Suicide Sal, plucks them out of the deadly ambush in Sailes, Louisiana at the last second and forces them to become federal agents, using their unique “skills” to save FDR from an assassin.
In the second book, Dam Nation, which publishes March 24, Bonnie and Clyde must stop
saboteurs from destroying Boulder (Hoover) Dam. In Book 2, the notorious duo
take firm steps on a path to redemption, beginning to see the pain their
actions inflicted on so many innocent people.
Both “what-if” novels are fast-paced
thrillers with sharp dialogue and plenty of steamy romance. The books also tackle,
as an undercurrent, the poverty and systemic injustice that fueled the rise of Bonnie
and Clyde, along with examining the plight of the working class in that era. These
issues, such as the gaping wealth/income inequality and the influence of
corporate power, are increasingly relevant to today’s economic landscape, making
this retelling of their story alarmingly relevant.
But at heart, it was love thrust them into
the realm of legend, and this takes center stage in the series. Now that Bonnie
and Clyde have a (fictional) second chance, and an opportunity for redemption,
their love is the only certain thing in a world of shadowy allegiances, the constant threat of
violence and the possibility of atonement.
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Introducing
Bonnie and Clyde: Dam Nation
The redemption of Bonnie and Clyde
Saving
the working class from a river of greed
The year is 1935 and the Great Depression has America in a death grip of poverty, unemployment and starvation. But the New Deal is rekindling hope, with federally funded infrastructure projects, like Hoover Dam, putting people back to work. Set to harness the mighty Colorado River for electricity and irrigation, the dam is an engineering marvel and symbol of American can-do spirit.
So, why is someone trying to blow it up?
So, why is someone trying to blow it up?
When an informant on the construction site is murdered,
Bonnie and Clyde—spared from their gruesome deaths and forced into a covert
life working for the government—are given their second assignment: stop the
bomb and protect the thousands of laborers and families in the company town.
It's their most dangerous mission yet: working for a living.
Can the notorious lovers put aside their criminal ways long
enough to find out who wants to extinguish the American dream, and hopefully
reclaim a shred of redemption along the way?
The thrilling story cuts back and forth between the modern
era where a reporter interviews the now-elderly Bonnie Parker, and the
dangerous 1930s undercover exploits of Bonnie and Clyde, as they are thrust
into a fight to defend the working class against corporate greed.
Dam Nation continues
the explosive "what-if" series about two unlikely heroes fighting to
defend the working class during America's Great Depression, a historical
thriller with unsettling contemporary parallels.
Resurrection
Road is
the first book in the Bonnie and Clyde series.
Dam Nation is the
second book in the Bonnie and Clyde series.
“Crisply
written, well-researched, thoroughly entertaining. As in Resurrection Road, Hays and McFall evoke time and
place well in this sequel. The story’s politics are fresh and timely. Readers
will find Bonnie and Clyde to be great company, and the novel’s framing story
(the widowed Bonnie’s 1984 recollections) gives their relationship an extra
layer of poignancy.” Kirkus Reviews
“A rollicking good read. The real
history of the rise of unions and worker rights against the backdrop of a
nation recovering from the Great Depression contributes an engrossing,
realistic scenario; a vivid read that blends fiction with nonfiction elements
in a way that makes the book hard to put down. Dam Nation is the second book in the speculative fiction series;
but newcomers need no prior familiarity with the series, in order to find it
accessible.” Midwest Book Review
An excerpt to whet the appetite...
What if?
“How would I know?” Sal asked. “I work for the government. I
trust that the government has my best interests at heart. I follow orders. You
didn’t.”
“I won’t be quiet about this unless you can tell me why anyone
would try to save them outlaws.”
“If they were still alive, I would tell
you that everyone has a purpose in life, and perhaps they are fulfilling
theirs. And if they were still alive, I would tell you that you don’t use good
dogs to guard the junkyard, you use the meanest goddamn dogs you can get a
collar around.”
