Title: Selectively Lawless: The True Story Of Emmett Long, An American Original
Author: Asa Duane Dunnington
Publisher: Author Reputation Press, LLC
ISBN: 978-1649614421
Genre: Non-fiction / Historical Biographies
Pages: 180
ISBN: 164961442X
Review by: David Allen
Hollywood Book Reviews
Selectively Lawless is a tongue-in-cheek fun romp through 50 years of the (not so) Old West and the true-life story of an American anti-hero. Author Asa Duane Dunnington narrates the adventures, foibles and fables of his outlaw uncle, Emmett Long.
Long’s story grabs you from the get-go. It is the iconic American story, the tale of a lovable outlaw champion who rises from poverty to embrace gambling, prostitution and moonshining–anything but honest work! Emmett Long lost his taste for honest work watching his large itinerant family slaving their lives away in the cottonfields of Texas. His journey takes him from jails and prison to the company of other famous outlaws like Pretty Boy Floyd and Frank Nash. But he doesn’t go out in a blaze of glory. Long settles down, raises a family, finds God, and ends his days as a successful rancher.
While it is sometimes hard to believe in the outright gumption of Long and his sidekicks, the stories are rolled out fast and furiously. You will find yourself eagerly consuming one story after another, hoping the steeplechase ride never ends. The word play and bravura and expanse of these stories are positively cinematic; I could easily see a movie adaptation of Dunnington’s rollicking tale.
Emmett Long was born and raised in a Texas sharecropping family, along with his eight siblings. But it wasn’t ‘long’ before he developed a marked taste for finer and fancier things: fast cars, fast women, and high and fancy living. Long becomes a bank and train robber, even a killer. But he’s got a heart of gold. He’s a killer with a soft spot for his (few) victims–those unwise enough to cheat him at cards or otherwise cross him along the way. This renegade’s story is a refreshing spin on the outlaw narrative of the Great Depression.
Part of the book’s allure is the writer’s charming fluency with the lingua franca and idiom of the blood and guts Old West. Selectively Lawless calls to mind other great narratives of the time and place, including the books of Larry McMurtry and Zane Grey. The boasting and colloquialisms are precious; as I read this, I felt I was being entertained by W.C. Fields (another great American!) This book is a treat for the mind and the heart and helps us appreciate the true grit and mettle that made this country great.