A review by davygibbs
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts by Julian Rubinstein

5.0

Far more than an entertaining heist story, Ballad of the Whiskey Robber is an engrossing and touching biography of an everyman with a good heart on the wrong side of history (and yes, ok, also the law). It's also an insightful commentary on the fall of communism and the brutal introduction of capitalism to the former Soviet bloc, as well as an oddly charming travelogue of Budapest and Transylvania. In fact, it speaks volumes about the Hungarian capital that even after reading about the crime, corruption, and chaos of the post-Iron-Curtain years, Budapest still sounds like a hell of a fun town. Rubinstein struck gold with the story of the Whiskey Robber, that much is obvious. It's got everything you could ask for in a gripping biography, or a thrilling crime story. Fortunately for us, he's an incredible writer, and the prose just crackles with enthusiasm. This is a really fine work of nonfiction that I hope more and more people encounter, even as we get farther and farther from the social and political contexts that allowed such insane events to happen.