Peaky Blinders: The Real Story
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- Create Date：2021-10-27 09:54:02
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Carl Chinn
- ISBN：1789461723
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Summary
Stylish and dark， the BBC series the 'Peaky Blinders' is set in the backstreets of Birmingham after the First World War and tells of the rise to power of Thomas Shelby and his criminal gang。 Yet the real stories behind these fictional characters are just as dramatic， bloody and compelling as the TV series。 Thomas Shelby's arch enemy Billy Kimber was in real life a Brummie from Summer Lane。 He was a feared fighter with an astute mind and magnetic personality which earned him the leadership of the Birmingham Gang that dominated the highly profitable protection rackets of the racecourses of England。 The members of this gang had once been 'sloggers' or 'peaky blinders' and their rise to supremacy was attributable to their viciousness and to Kimber's shrewd alliances with other gangs。 But they soon incurred the envy of the Sabini Gang of London who fought violently to oust Kimber and his men and take over their rackets。 The Birmingham Gang battled back fiercely in the infamous and blood-stained racecourse wars of the 1920s。 This Birmingham Gang led by Billy Kimber were the Real Peaky Blinders and this is their story。
Reviews
George Osborn
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A very repetitive story， talking about criminal offence over and over。 But I can respect that history is not always exciting， and it is called The Real Story I enjoyed how it spoke about the real uniform of the Peaky Blinders。 Not great but delivers， and spoke about the real Major Campbell as well。 Quite interesting。
Charlie Lane
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Fans of the Peaky Blinders series will find this book interesting if they want to find out more about the 'real' Peaky Blinders。 If you expect the TV series to be historically correct you maybe disappointed， if you want to know whether the Shelby family are part of Birmingham's colourful history then you'll just have to read yourself， no spoilers here！ Fans of the Peaky Blinders series will find this book interesting if they want to find out more about the 'real' Peaky Blinders。 If you expect the TV series to be historically correct you maybe disappointed， if you want to know whether the Shelby family are part of Birmingham's colourful history then you'll just have to read yourself， no spoilers here！ 。。。more
Sam Savelli
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Long and a bit of a chore to read， this book did do exactly what I set out hoping it would - separated fact from fiction about the peaky blinders。 I was grateful for the main point that the book was making， most neatly summarised in the final few paragraphs （if you make it that far） - that the real people this series was based on did not have honour， glamour or integrity。There was probably enough here for a compelling article / chapter， but not a whole book。
Olivia （_whatlivreads）
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I was a little disappointed by this book。 It was sold as being the true story of the peaky blinders， but I felt like the author really had a strong distaste in the TV series and it became overly opinionated。 Fair enough the tv series wasn't the factual life of peaky blinders， and the author wanted to tell the true history， but it became across as a hatred for the tv series and telling the reader how this was all wrong in a passive-aggressive way。 If the author had said once that the tv series wa I was a little disappointed by this book。 It was sold as being the true story of the peaky blinders， but I felt like the author really had a strong distaste in the TV series and it became overly opinionated。 Fair enough the tv series wasn't the factual life of peaky blinders， and the author wanted to tell the true history， but it became across as a hatred for the tv series and telling the reader how this was all wrong in a passive-aggressive way。 If the author had said once that the tv series wasn't factual and moved on， I would have been fine with that， but it was nearly every page the author was bringing it up。 I'm unsure whether this was an attempt to bring down the tv series？ but if anything， it made me dislike the book。 。。。more
Jasper Sendler
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Much of the book is a presentation of primary source material。 The skill of an author is to join all this together to flesh the story out and reach conclusions about the subject- Chinn failed to do this。 Patches of it。。。but very sparse。
Nabiha Khan
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it， click here。 Good
Helen
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Lots of facts and figures。 Prepare to have any illusions you have acquired from the tv show shattered。 Forget the glamour and the attraction of the "Disneyfied" Peaky Blinders and embrace the grit and dirt of poverty， brutality and violence， bullying that people lived in fear of every day。 I guess i would have liked to have read more about the individual characters but obviously that is difficult when a lot of these lived over a hundred years ago。 This is a good starting point to learn who the c Lots of facts and figures。 Prepare to have any illusions you have acquired from the tv show shattered。 Forget the glamour and the attraction of the "Disneyfied" Peaky Blinders and embrace the grit and dirt of poverty， brutality and violence， bullying that people lived in fear of every day。 I guess i would have liked to have read more about the individual characters but obviously that is difficult when a lot of these lived over a hundred years ago。 This is a good starting point to learn who the characters are though。 。。。more
Craig
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Pish
Ms Leisl Badham
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Interesting but not a fluid read
Neal Smith
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Fascinating and enjoyable read。A fascinating and enjoyable read。 Sadly there are several grammatical mistakes throughout the book which spoil the experience slightly。 Would recommend reading。
Steph
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I wanted to like this book but it was badly written。 The timeline jumps all over the place， and the content is mostly quotes from newspapers。 So many spelling mistakes and errors to the point where I'm not sure if it was proof read before publication。 It got more interesting towards the end when we *finally* get to find out about the real peaky blinders。 Probably more interesting to people who live in Birmingham or know the geography well as there's a lot of references to specific areas and stre I wanted to like this book but it was badly written。 The timeline jumps all over the place， and the content is mostly quotes from newspapers。 So many spelling mistakes and errors to the point where I'm not sure if it was proof read before publication。 It got more interesting towards the end when we *finally* get to find out about the real peaky blinders。 Probably more interesting to people who live in Birmingham or know the geography well as there's a lot of references to specific areas and streets。 。。。more
Mariya
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I think that the movie is much more interesting than its book ！！！ This is the first time i say such sentence because i am not a movie fan at all。。。This book has collected a lot of documents from those days of peaky blinders and the lifetime in england I think it is better to watch movie first then come to book
Zephyrus
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DNF
Neil Randall
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I really wanted to like this book， but sadly I just cannot。It is probably the most repetitive book I've ever read。 How many time do we need to know they played pitch and toss or about slogger gangs etc。 It just driveled on like this for the large majority of the narrative。It was more like reading the weekly in court column of a local newspaper， with endless details of who got caught， when and what punishment they received。If you are thinking this will flesh out the TV series and give it more dep I really wanted to like this book， but sadly I just cannot。It is probably the most repetitive book I've ever read。 How many time do we need to know they played pitch and toss or about slogger gangs etc。 It just driveled on like this for the large majority of the narrative。It was more like reading the weekly in court column of a local newspaper， with endless details of who got caught， when and what punishment they received。If you are thinking this will flesh out the TV series and give it more depth， then forget it。 If you want a novel outlining who's who of the criminal fraternity of the late 18 to early 1900s then this is for you。Personally I wouldn't bother， plus I think biggest criminal of this publication was the editor！ 。。。more
Cassandra Stevens
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Repetitive， not strong historical accurate， guess work and damn right boring in places。 Love the show， knew it was only loosely based on historical figures and not like for like but this book feels like we have jumped onto a money making wagon whilst the shows still of interest。2 stars （is generous） purely for the chapter based on Billy Kimber， Sabini and Alfie Solomons as that linked nicely even if Alfie Solomons story was a bit wet。 The concept of the book and snipets were interesting。 Was not Repetitive， not strong historical accurate， guess work and damn right boring in places。 Love the show， knew it was only loosely based on historical figures and not like for like but this book feels like we have jumped onto a money making wagon whilst the shows still of interest。2 stars （is generous） purely for the chapter based on Billy Kimber， Sabini and Alfie Solomons as that linked nicely even if Alfie Solomons story was a bit wet。 The concept of the book and snipets were interesting。 Was not worth the page count， could of been half that。 Pure disappointment and glad I got it on kindle sale。 。。。more
Druss
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Set detailed and well researched。 Facts and proof over fiction with direct comparison to the tv show。 Highly recommended
Christine Lapping
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This is not the book for you if you are looking for an exciting read along the lines of the television series。 Carl Chinn makes clear there was nothing glamorous nor noble about the street gangs who acted as inspiration for the series， quite the contrary， they were vicious thugs。
Elise WM
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I will revisit this book at a later date。 At the moment， I don’t have enough time to plough through this。 It isn’t a very long book， but it is so well researched that at times it can feel quite repetitive， and I found myself getting lost in dates and streets and times and people。 However， I still got the general gist of who the real peaky blinders were and what brought about their eventual decline， which is massively fascinating and I am rewatching peaky blinders now to try and spot some similar I will revisit this book at a later date。 At the moment， I don’t have enough time to plough through this。 It isn’t a very long book， but it is so well researched that at times it can feel quite repetitive， and I found myself getting lost in dates and streets and times and people。 However， I still got the general gist of who the real peaky blinders were and what brought about their eventual decline， which is massively fascinating and I am rewatching peaky blinders now to try and spot some similarities and differences to the truths that I have now learned。 The recounts from real people alive at the time made this book for me。 I just don’t have the time at the minute to digest this properly。 Also there were spelling and grammar mistakes which was annoying。 。。。more
Scott Daughters
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Very slow and burning IMO
Peter Davidson
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Very repititive
Matt
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Pretty dry and repetitive in the beginning so I left it for a while but came back to it and found some of the myth-busting and stories of the real life characters pretty engaging。
Alfred Nobile
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Pretty good but at times repetitive。 Others may like it。 But if your thinking about the TV series then it is a no。 It is more a social history
Tommy Maker
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Very disappointed。 I love reading about real people， but this felt like snippets of news articles， put together。 Did not feel constructed well。 As others have said， repetitive。 I would have liked to have learnt more about Chinns forefathers mentioned in this book。 Was extremely slow to read， and sadly confusing at times。 I didn't enjoy it as much as thought I would， hence my rating。 ☹ Very disappointed。 I love reading about real people， but this felt like snippets of news articles， put together。 Did not feel constructed well。 As others have said， repetitive。 I would have liked to have learnt more about Chinns forefathers mentioned in this book。 Was extremely slow to read， and sadly confusing at times。 I didn't enjoy it as much as thought I would， hence my rating。 ☹ 。。。more
Agata Kochanowska
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I started reading this book after watching the Peaky blinders series on Netflix。 The book was interesting as I learnt so many fascinating facts However， I felt lost as the author kept on changing the dates and adding new things。 It was still a very good book and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about the infamous Peaky blinders。 I started reading this book after watching the Peaky blinders series on Netflix。 The book was interesting as I learnt so many fascinating facts However， I felt lost as the author kept on changing the dates and adding new things。 It was still a very good book and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about the infamous Peaky blinders。 。。。more
John Demos
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If you’re a fan of the show don’t bother with this bookDon’t bother with this book if you’re a fan of the show。 The whole book is comprised mostly of unrelated and random news accounts of various violent crimes committed by the “roughs” of Birmingham。 At some point the book finally gets to story of Billy Kimber。 But even then the stories are random and choppy。 I also found it humorous that the book showed pictures of buildings and streets where certain crimes and events occurred but the pictures If you’re a fan of the show don’t bother with this bookDon’t bother with this book if you’re a fan of the show。 The whole book is comprised mostly of unrelated and random news accounts of various violent crimes committed by the “roughs” of Birmingham。 At some point the book finally gets to story of Billy Kimber。 But even then the stories are random and choppy。 I also found it humorous that the book showed pictures of buildings and streets where certain crimes and events occurred but the pictures were taken in the 1950s。。。 in many cases over 50 years after the event occurred。 Save your money。 You’ve been warned。 。。。more
Amy
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I've never seen peaky blinders， but ii was interested in the story and the history behind it。 This book was slightly interesting but extremely repetitive。 I've never seen peaky blinders， but ii was interested in the story and the history behind it。 This book was slightly interesting but extremely repetitive。 。。。more
Sean Loone
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I’m not going to berate the author for whom I have tremendous respect but this is not a great book。 In fact it’s in my opinion a rouse to cash in on the success of the tv series。Boring and repetitive with what felt like little cohesion this does not make for an enjoyable read。 As a result I was really disappointed as I was looking forward to reading it。 Living for many years in Birmingham myself and knowing most of the areas described the first half of the book felt like little more than a colle I’m not going to berate the author for whom I have tremendous respect but this is not a great book。 In fact it’s in my opinion a rouse to cash in on the success of the tv series。Boring and repetitive with what felt like little cohesion this does not make for an enjoyable read。 As a result I was really disappointed as I was looking forward to reading it。 Living for many years in Birmingham myself and knowing most of the areas described the first half of the book felt like little more than a collection of newspaper articles。The potential was huge the delivery a complete let down - sorry！ 。。。more
Rach
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Audiobook read by the author， which really helps with the pacing。 An interesting social history covering crime gangs， slogging gangs， thugs and thieves in Birmingham。 As a midlander， I found it fascinating but if you aren’t familiar with the city there is a lot of coverage of Birmingham locations， pubs and streets which could be repetitive if you aren’t familiar with the locations。 The real violent thugs bear very little resemblance to the stylish Peaky blinders in the tv series！
Steve Rowley
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Very informative read。Well researched and interesting links to the Peakey Blinders TV series， outlining and clarifying fact from fiction。 Delighted I downloaded it。
Diana
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