Selectively Lawless: The True Story of Emmett Long, an American Original

by Asa Dunnington

Overview

True story of author's uncle. How a 14 year old boy walked off a Texas cottonfield and with common sense and guts became a bootlegger, gambler and bank robber. Then, changed his life after he became a husband and father.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684867714
Publisher:	Urlink Print & Media, LLC
Publication date:	05/22/2024
Pages:	214
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.45(d)

About the Author

Asa Dunnington was born in Logan, Iowa and raised in Southern California. He was a stringer sports writer for the San Gabriel Valley Daily Tribune. He is an Air Force veteran and was a lead advanceman for Vice President Spirow Agnew. He has two sons and a daughter. He is married to his second wife, Cheryl.

Editorial Reviews

11/05/2018
This biased, poorly sourced biography of Emmett Long, an obscure Depression-era career criminal who associated with better known murderers such as Pretty Boy Floyd, from Dunnington (What a Life!), Long’s nephew, appears to be wholly derived from stories told to him by Long and by Long’s daughter. His account presents conversations from decades ago as if they had been transcribed contemporaneously, and downplays Long’s history of violence, which included several murders. It begins with Long’s birth in Oklahoma in 1904 to a family of sharecroppers, and traces his evolution from cardsharp and moonshiner to bank and train depot robber. He committed his first murder—of a game warden, whose corpse was buried in an unmarked grave in the woods—in his 20s to protect the location of a still. Risible prose (“Many a fork hung in the air, their steaming-hot cargo turning cold, suspended inches from their digestive destinations”) is a further negative. Despite Dunnington’s efforts, few readers will be persuaded that Long’s religious epiphany toward the end of his life is any evidence of personal redemption that might counterbalance his years of lawlessness and killing. True crime fans can easily give this one a pass. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

"Selectively Lawless is a beautifully told story of a legend of the lawless West and Asa Dunnington is a natural storyteller who tells the tale with humor and pathos. Littered with references to other infamous names from the past, this story spans the growth of 20th century America as well as Emmett Long. Strap yourself in for one hell of a ride and be prepared to laugh and cry with this legend of his times."

- Readers' Favorite, 5-Star review

From the Publisher