Interesting look at a Pentecostal family in California whose lives revolved around the church and the "do not" mentality of Christianity. The author tells the story of his cousin, Danny Courson who grew up believing and following all the rules; going to a Bible college, marrying a young woman who was also believer, but who went a different path.

Leaving California for the east coast to go to school to become a nurse, he left his wife and young son. He soon got into gambling which made him desperate for cash. The next thing he was robbing banks. He was a very "intelligent" bank robber and managed to rob several before getting caught.

The author tells Danny's story as well as that of the extended family interspersed with chapters such as "A Brief History of Bank Robbing in America" and others like it - information which could just have easily been found on the Internet. It seems the author just used these chapters to round out the story of his family - admit, I skimmed those.

Hard to believe in places but in other places truly paints a true and unromantic of life as a "most wanted." Danny was very average looking, knew how to blend in but was constantly on the edge afraid of being caught. There is some very explicit directions of how to rob a bank but also very truthful look at the consequences.

Liked the opening quote by Martin Luther: "Love God and sin boldly" ( )

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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WHAT'S BLESSED ARE THE BANK ROBBERS ABOUT?
From the Publisher's Site:

Chas Smith grew up deeply enmeshed in the evangelical Christian world that grew out of Southern California in the late 1960s. His family included famous missionaries and megachurch pastors, but his cousin Daniel Courson was Grandma’s favorite. Smith looked up to Cousin Danny. He was handsome, adventurous, and smart, earned a degree from Bible college, and settled into a family and a stable career.

Needless to say, it was a big surprise when Cousin Danny started robbing banks. Known as the “Floppy Hat Bandit,” Courson robbed 19 of them in a torrid six-week spree before being caught and sentenced to seven years. When he tried to escape, they tacked on another year. And when he finally got out, despite seeming to be back on the straight and narrow, Cousin Danny disappeared. Banks started getting robbed again. It seemed Cousin Danny might be gunning for the record.

Smith’s Blessed Are the Bank Robbers is the wild, and wildly entertaining, story of an all-American anti-hero. It’s a tale of bank robberies, art and jewel heists, high-speed chases, fake identities, encrypted Swiss email accounts, jilted lovers, and the dark side of an evangelical family (and it wasn’t just Danny; an uncle was mixed up with the mujahideen). It’s a book about what it means to live inside the church and outside the law.

Some of the material in this book comes straight from Courson himself—emails while he was a fugitive and writing he did while in prison to describe his career.

OTHER BANK ROBBERS
Scattered throughout are descriptions of other prodigious bank robbers, their streaks, and their methods. Most of these are pretty interesting and probably worth a book themselves. It's not my typical genre, but there are a couple of these that I'd jump on.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT BLESSED ARE THE BANK ROBBERS?
Well, it wasn't bad. A lot of it was pretty entertaining and well-written. Significant portions of it were a blast and really sucked me in. But for every section of the book that sang, there was a section or more that fell flat. I had high hopes for this one and none of them were met.

This felt like the journalism surrounding Capone and the like during their heyday—it was a celebration of Courson's crimes. The acknowledgment that his crimes caused actual harm came from Courson himself in a throwaway comment. Sure, it's exciting to read about this kind of crime and Courson is clearly a charismatic figure. But celebrating him like this left a bad taste in my mouth. Then sending emails back and forth with him while he's "on the lam"* and daydreaming about following in his footsteps? Were Smith a starry-eyed adolescent, I could accept it, but in a father? It discredited the author in my eyes (it would've taken a 2-sentence paragraph where he acknowledged the problem with it).

* I did appreciate getting the etymology of that phrase.

I don't think Smith did an effective job of exploring the link between Courson's Calvary Chapel upbringing and his turning to a life in crime—it's there if you look for it (and make some assumptions), but if you're going to put "Evangelical" in the subtitle, you need to expand on this.

There was a lot of promise in the premise, some entertaining/informational moments, and it was an easy read—but ultimately, it was a letdown. I fully expect that others won't stumble over the things I did (some of which are above), and I don't know that I would argue with them. ( )