This book has been through a lot. Photo (c) r.smith 2010
This is actually a re-read, and I don’t think I posted it about it the first time I read it.. but even if I did, that was over a year ago so, it bears repeating.
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts is the true story of Attila Ambrus, Hungarian “folk hero” (as proclaimed by his countrymen).
Just as it was the first time I read this book, I could not put it down. Proof positive that truth is stranger than fiction.. Whenever I first started reading it, after I intially received it, I actually had to do a little online research to see if it was a biographical book or a work of fiction. (Despite the fact that the title states it’s a true story, yes. It was just that off-the-wall.) For me, one of the only things reminding me that it’s non-fiction is the skillful way in which the author weaves the tumultuous history of this area of the world throughout the story. He succeeds in creating another character out of Hungary, as if it were another person in the already outrageous cast, as opposed to it merely being a setting or a background for the events that unfold.
He also manages to perfectly capture and re-create for the reader the conflict between a blundering police force bent on serving justice to what they consider a “dangerous criminal,” and the rest of the country who sees the man as a modern day Robin Hood.. Robbing from a government that has failed all but the richest of its citizens and has opened the door for other countries to prosper off of their natural resources while returning no benefits to Hungary.
For fans of fiction and non-fiction alike, I would recommend this book. Bet you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference if you didn’t already know. 
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