"The Bobbed Haired Bandit' is that increasingly rare species of historical work, a wild ride that happens to be true, a thumping good read that is built on truly impeccable research, and a rich portrait of America at a moment of crucial change that is as entertaining as any movie. Stephen Duncombe and Andrew Mattson arrive on the scene as already accomplished masters of their profession; and this book will appeal to any and all readers who want follow a seemingly unbelievable tale with the confidence that they can trust their guides absolutely. It's true crime, it's top-notch American history, it's flat-out fun -- grab it."

“The Bobbed Haired Bandit is a phenomenally complete work of historical literature: gripping, suspenseful, fast-moving, kaleidoscopic, gimlet-eyed, analytic, penetrating, sympathetic, and oddly tender. Its scholarship is solid, its implications are profound, and it’s at least as good as a movie.”

“A page-turner. Andrew Mattson and Stephen Duncombe’s engrossing tale of the Bobbed Haired Bandit transforms a lurid front page news story into a fascinating window through which we learn about so many of the social, cultural and moral issues that were reshaping the face of America in the 1920s. Rarely does a vivid close-up portrait offer readers such a broad and informative historical perspective. This one’s a gem”

“Like the movie Chicago, this account of a gun-toting New York flapper in the Roaring Twenties reveals the myths and realities of urban crime in its most colorful era.”

”In 1924, Celia Cooney, a newly married laundress in Brooklyn, found herself unexpectedly pregnant. The Cooneys' $30-a-week income couldn't support a baby. So Celia and her husband, Ed, began holding up neighborhood drugstores. In this riveting book, the authors, scholars in history and media studies (Duncombe at NYU, Mattson at SUNY–Old Westbury) reconstruct and analyze not only the crime spree but also the ensuing media frenzy. Savvy newspaper editors knew the story of a girl with a gun would sell; they christened Celia the Bobbed Hair Bandit and made her a star. According to the authors, she stood in for the era's anxieties about changing gender roles, her bob a symbol of liberated women. Suddenly, any gal with a bob was seen as a potential threat­even Zelda Fitzgerald was reportedly pulled over by cops and questioned. Once Celia was finally arrested, the public learned about her grueling childhood and negligent mother. Editorialists, including progressive pundit Walter Lippmann, then held Celia up as an example of what happened to poor and abused children when society failed to intervene. Duncombe and Mattson's fast-paced account of Cooney's story is an absolute winner”

"Mob greets bobbed gungirl," the April 23, 1924, Daily News screamed. Celia Cooney and her husband-accomplice, Ed, were back in New York from Florida. The city had been all riled up since January by the bank-robbing spree of "the Bobbed Haired Bandit, a smartly dressed woman armed with a 'baby automatic.'" With flair, Celia and Ed "humiliate[d] the police with daring crimes and taunting notes." Celia became a media star whose persona seemed to express themes of the day that ranged from the stark contrast between the lives of the wealthy and her own abject poverty to the danger of the famously bobbed-haired flapper as social exemplar and the hedonism such young women seemed to represent. Especially in the big media play the Cooneys received, this rollicking true-crimer's subject recalls the nearly concurrent and similarly trumpeted Roxie Hart case in Chicago, which inspired the musical Chicago. Since Duncombe and Mattson relentlessly reference their story without killing readability, this is a win-win package for true-crime, Roaring-Twenties, and pop-culture fans alike.”

“A wonderfully accessible introduction to the history and culture of the 1920s enlivened by multiple perspectives from which police, newspaper reporters, and the central figures understood unfolding events.  Brilliantly written, the book fascinated, amused, and gripped me throughout - like a good mystery it even had a surprise twist or two at the end."