If you want to be case-insensitive, you can just do:
b = True if bool_str.lower() == 'true' else False
Example usage:
>>> bool_str = 'False'
>>> b = True if bool_str.lower() == 'true' else False
>>> b
False
>>> bool_str = 'true'
>>> b = True if bool_str.lower() == 'true' else False
>>> b
True