This book delves into humanitys compulsive need to valorize criminals. The criminal hero is a seductive figure, and audiences get a rather scopophilic pleasure in watching people behave badly. This book offers an analysis of the varied and vexing definitions of hero, criminal, and criminal heroes both historically and culturally.

This book also examines the global presence, gendered complications, and gentle juxtapositions in criminal hero figures such as: Robin Hood,Breaking Bad,American Gods,American Vandal, Kabir, Plunkett and Macleane, Martha Stewart, Mary Read, Anne Bonny,Oceans 11, Oceans Eleven, andLet The Bullets Fly. 

Roxie J. James, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of English in the Department of English at Northwestern Oklahoma State University. She specializes in Romantic and Victorian literature, and her research interests include British women's writing and depictions of dirt in Victorian literature and culture.

Kathryn E. Lane, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of English and Department Chairperson at Northwestern Oklahoma State University. Her research interests include Victorian literature and culture, popular culture, and feminist theory. She is the editor of the 2018 book collectionAge of the Geek: Depictions of Nerds and Geeks in Popular Media.

1. I Need a Hero: Representation& Reinvention of the Criminal Hero in Mass Media - Roxie J. James and Kathryn E. Lane.- 2. Women, Crime, and Piracy in the Early Modern English Popular Imagination - Lisa M. Lillie.- 3. Criminality in Perspective and Politics of Legitimization: A Study in Paradox - Sanchari Bhattacharyya.- 4. Said Some Things I Definitely (Dont) Regret: Rhetorical Silence ofAmerican Vandals Criminal Heroine - Renee Ann Drouin.- 5. Exiles of Empire: Criminals as Heroes at the End of History in Jiang WensLet the Bullets Fly - Aleksander Sedzielarz.- 6. Stand and Deliver: The Cinematic Representation of the Gentleman Highwayman inPlunkett& Macleane(1999) - Kwasu D. Tembo.- 7. Something Feels Weird: Managing the Identity of Ex-Con inAmerican Gods - Rebecca Frost.- 8. Victims, Heroes, and Villains: Imaginary Beings In ContemporaryTelevision Serials - E. Deidre Pribram.- 9. Blurred Lines: Reflections of The Criminal Hero Figure. - Roxie J. James and Kathryn E. Lane.