The Making and Influence of I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang

<p> Robert E. Burns a World War I veteran coerced into taking part in a petty crime in Atlanta Georgia was sentenced to hard labor on a chain gang in 1922. Twice escaping and on the lam for decades he was aided only by his minister-poet brother Vincent G. Burns. Their collaborative work <I>I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang!</I> was the basis for Darryl F. Zanuck's and Mervyn Leroy's hard-hitting 1932 film adaptation from Warner Bros. This book traces the making and influence of the film--which launched a string of imitators--and the Burns brothers' efforts to obtain a pardon for Robert which never came.</p>