Wanted man - Tamsin Spargo

One September night in 1892 the wild west went east. A masked man boarded the American Express Special train as it sped through New York State and single-handedly stole a fortune. His name was Oliver Curtis Perry and he instantly became the country's most wanted man.

While detectives searched in vain, the public and press couldn't get enough of the handsome, charismatic young robber whose physical daring was matched by stories of a troubled childhood and romantic life. Women adored him, boys hero-worshipped him: America was falling in love.

Five months later he defied belief by robbing the same train again. This time, after one of the most extraordinary chases in history, he was caught and sentenced to forty-nine years of hard labour. If the authorities believed they had beaten this celebrity criminal they were badly mistaken. Perry's prison life proved as remarkable as his robberies as he turned escape-artist, protestor, hunger striker, and finally poet in his determination to win his freedom.

In Wanted Man, Tamsin Spargo brings this complex character to life once more as she tells his story from adventure to tragedy. Thought-provoking, moving, and always riveting, this is an extraordinary portrait of a forgotten man.

Tamsin Spargo was born and raised in Cornwall. She worked as a reporter, then as an actor, before embarking on her current career as a cultural historian. She is Reader in Cultural History and Director of the School of Media, Critical and Creative Arts at Liverpool John Moores University. Her academic works include The Writing of John Bunyan and Reading the Past: Literature and History.