When criminal autobiographies like The Memoirs of the Notorious Stephen Burroughs (1798) and A Narrative of the Life, Adventures, Travels, and Sufferings of Henry Tufts (1807) first appeared in the United States around the turn of the nineteenth century, they introduced a scandalous and radical new form. At the same time, however, they built on the storied history of criminal narratives that had been popular since colonial times. Autobiography gave criminals the authority to frame their crimes, such as theft, fraud, counterfeiting, and bigamy, on their own terms, to make money, and to shape their public perception. Dr. Babbe will discuss how criminals have used print narratives to challenge and redefine core American values and myths like personal liberty and economic mobility, thereby (re-) creating their identities in writing.