I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang! - (Brown Thrasher Books) by Robert E Burns (Paperback)

About the Book

The amazing true story of one man's search for meaning, fall from grace, and eventual victory over injustice. In 1921, Robert E. Burns was a shell-shocked and penniless veteran who found himself at the mercy of Georgia's barbaric penal system. This book and its movie version, nominated for a Best Picture Oscar in 1933, shocked the world by exposing Georgia's brutal treatment of prisoners.

Book Synopsis

I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang! is the amazing true story of one man's search for meaning, fall from grace, and eventual victory over injustice.

In 1921, Robert E. Burns was a shell-shocked and penniless veteran who found himself at the mercy of Georgia's barbaric penal system when he fell in with a gang of petty thieves. Sentenced to six to ten years' hard labor for his part in a robbery that netted less than $6.00, Burns was shackled to a county chain gang. After four months of backbreaking work, he made a daring escape, dodging shotgun blasts, racing through swamps, and eluding bloodhounds on his way north.

For seven years Burns lived as a free man. He married and became a prosperous Chicago businessman and publisher. When he fell in love with another woman, however, his jealous wife turned him in to the police, who arrested him as a fugitive from justice. Although he was promised lenient treatment and a quick pardon, he was back on a chain gang within a month. Undaunted, Burns did the impossible and escaped a second time, this time to New Jersey. He was still a hunted man living in hiding when this book was first published in 1932.

The book and its movie version, nominated for a Best Picture Oscar in 1933, shocked the world by exposing Georgia's brutal treatment of prisoners. I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang! is a daring and heartbreaking book, an odyssey of misfortune, love, betrayal, adventure, and, above all, the unshakable courage and inner strength of the fugitive himself.

From the Back Cover

I Am a Fugitive from a Georgia Chain Gang! is the amazing true story of one man's search for meaning, fall from grace, and eventual victory over injustice. In 1921, Robert E. Burns was shackled to a chain gang for his part in petty robbery. He soon made a daring escape, dodging shotgun blasts, racing through swamps, and eluding bloodhounds on his way north, where for seven years he lived as a free man until his jealous wife turned him in to the police. Arrested as a fugitive from justice, Burns was promised lenient treatment and a quick pardon, but was back on a chain gang within a month. Undaunted, he did the impossible and escaped a second time, and was still a hunted man living in hiding when this book was first published in 1932. The book and its movie version, nominated for a Best Picture Oscar in 1933, shocked the world by exposing Georgia's brutal treatment of prisoners.

Review Quotes

It would be hard to find a more thrilling story in either truth or fiction.

--New York Times

The reader will be as much thrilled by the story of the escapes as he will be shocked by the descriptions of chain gang life.

--Times Literary Supplement

About the Author

ROBERT E. BURNS (1891-1955) was a native of Brooklyn, New York. After his sentence was commuted by the state of Georgia in 1945, he worked as a toy store owner, tax consultant, and veterans' affairs archivist.