Also includes: an extensive timeline and bibliography, an awards ceremony, lexicon, and lots of cool information.
If you like history, Depression-era crime, Robin Hood-type bandits, archives, St. Paul, gangsters, or interactive things, this is the zine for you.
40 pages, 8 1/2"x 5.5", hand bound, typewritten (that's a typewriter!),photocopied, card stock cover, and made with love, with envelopes glued in and filled with gangsters.
Here's a review from Lower East Side Librarian:
"Excitement and Adventure is such a librarian zine! It's basically a fanzine about prohibition era gangsters, which Lacey researched with abandon at the Minnesota Historical Society. They have a page on their website about Gangsters in St. Paul!
You can tell she has a total crush on all the gangsters, despite her disclaimer that, "While I'm not romanticizing killing or kidnapping, which happened a lot, there's something about gangsters taking money from banks that were taking people's money that makes me happy." She goes on to say, "I love the gangster era because of the cars, the clothes, the hairstyles, the handwriting, the motivation & cockiness, & the blatant disregard for the law & authorities."
But what's so librarian about the zine, you ask? Each gangster's story is told in primary sources with a photocopy of his or her wanted file. She also includes copies of actual ransom notes that are ridiculously funny, many of which end with official sounding language:
I HEREBY AUTHORIZE THE ABOVE PAYMENT TO BE MADE AND REQUEST THAT ALL INSTRUCTIONS BE FULLY CARRIED OUT.
There is a 17 page timeline taking the reader from 1900 to Alvin "Creepy" Karpis's death in 1979, classified ads, awards, a glossary, a bibliography, and two gangster trading cards (collect the whole set).
It's also kind of fancy visually, with a cardstock cover, stab bound, and envelopes sealing each gangster's history. "
Have any questions?
Contact the shop owner.
