The Untouchables (book)

The Untouchables

First edition cover
Author	Eliot Ness Oscar Fraley
Country	United States
Language	English
Publisher	LC Class	HV6795.C4 N4

The Untouchables is an autobiographical memoir by Eliot Ness co-written with Oscar Fraley, published in 1957.^[1] The book deals with the experiences of Ness, who was a federal agent in the Bureau of Prohibition, as he fought crime in Chicago in the late 1920s and early 1930s with the help of a special team of agents handpicked for their incorruptibility, nicknamed The Untouchables.^[2]

The main part of the book is written in first-person anecdotal style, as if directly from Ness's reminiscences; a foreword and afterword by Fraley provide historical context. In fact, Fraley, who was a prominent

The book inspired The Untouchables, a popular television series which ran from 1959 to 1963, and the 1987 film The Untouchables.^{[2]: xi–xii, 531–532 [6][7]}

Reception

Although The Untouchables has been criticized for its lack of historical accuracy,^[8] later research casts doubt on these claims. Ness biographers Max Allan Collins and A. Brad Schwartz, after comparing Ness and Fraley's account to contemporary primary source evidence, concluded that the book is broadly accurate but includes some false details and is not in the correct chronological order.^{[2]: xii, 531–532, 588, 593, 608–610, 622, 627, 631–634, 640, 645, 649}

In an article for Vanity Fair, the writer Matthew Pearl, citing "up-to-date Untouchables scholarship," observed that Ness and Fraley, "by and large, appear to be telling the truth."^[1]

References