True Crime: An American Anthology: A Library of America Special Publication

The Library of America's "True Crime: an American Anthology" - a fascinating 'past-to-present' anthology containing much of the best American true-crime writing spanning the 350-year period from way back in the 17th Century down to the present-day. Given the vast body and range of true-crime literature in existence, in order to make the project feasible, Harold Schechter the editor, a true crime author himself, necessarily had to work within certain parameters, setting limits that narrow the central focus of his true-crime selections to Homicide cases - and also excludes excerpts from classic crime books (like the groundbreaking In Cold Blood) in favour of self-contained pieces on, as Schechter puts it, "particularly horrific and unsettling crimes that erupt into ordinary lives". Included in this killer collection are many of the most notorious real-life homicide cases on record (Son of Sam who terrorised New York, a profile of the Menendez brothers who brutally murdered their parents) as well as some equally gripping lesser known murder cases (the Halls-Mills murder mystery 'affair', involving the murder of a minister and his lover). James Ellroy, Gay Talese, Dominick Dunne and Anne Rule are contemporary true-crime practitioners included standing shoulder-to-shoulder with writers (some of whom are not normally associated with the true crime genre) such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ambrose Bierce, Mark Twain, Theodore Dreiser, James Thurber and Truman Capote (generally regarded as the inventor of the first non-fiction novel, the classic true-crime book In Cold Blood). Schechter's expertise in the True-Crime genre is apparent from his excellent introduction to the anthology, full of insight into how true-crime reportage evolved over time. And there's a bonus! Preceding each selection, Schechter includes concise, informative 'lead-ins' full of references that open doorways to further reading for those readers who wish to dig deeper. One colorful piece, Calvin Trillin's offbeat "A Stranger With A Camera", set in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, involves the shooting dead of a journalist by a local 'hillbilly'. Mountain people living in isolated mountain pockets and up remote hollows in ramshackle, dilapidated shacks harboured deep-rooted suspicion and distrust of strangers and outsiders: a breed of people who follow their own rule of law - the law of the mountains, the code of the hills - and quick to dispense their own brand of justice when it comes down to protecting their property from transgressors and "smart-alecks come to hold us up to ridicule", even if it means running them off at the end of a loaded gun. Equally fascinating is "The Trial of Ruby McCollum" arising from the shooting dead of a leading physician (and respected state senator) by his mistress, an African American woman who had one child by him and was pregnant with another - and her subsequent murder trial in a County in which the Ku Klux Klan was a powerful presence. Other

This is the best book I've read in a long time. The selections are eye-opening and even the essays I had read before are the sort that are good to read again and again which is especially good because I almost rather wish I hadn't read this book yet for the absolute pleasure of reading it for the first time. An outstanding work of scholarship that is equally enjoyable for the lay reader.

Every five or ten years a crime captures the public imagination and shakes the norms of societal expectations. How each of us reacts to them becomes a kind of ink blot test. These sensational events are inflection points that reflect what society was and what it is becoming. Of course, the O. J. Simpson murders, Son of Sam, The Boston Strangler, Speck killing those nurses, and Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" were all sensational and driven by the media. Nowadays, with the 24 news channels fixating on JonBenet Ramsey, Natalie Holloway are video extensions of this genre, but the written books and articles are what is collected in this fascinating book. Harold Schechter, the editor, not only selected the articles, but also provided an opening essay on this genre and its place in American letters and journalism. He explores ideas about why people become obsessed with these crimes and the role these stories play in our national psyche. We all have our own views on the subject, but I found Schecter's article quite interesting. This book includes dozens of articles and excerpts about cases that were the O.J. Simpson furors of their time. Some names still linger in the popular imagination even if the details of the crimes do not (Lizze Bordon, Sacco and Vanzetti, Leopold and Loeb remain). Others have faded to oblivion (who recalls the 1922 Hall-Mills murders?). I was also interested in seeing some of the very famous names among the list of authors: Cottom Mather, Benjamin Franklin, Nathaniel Hawthorn, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, H. L. Mencken, James Thurber, Calvin Trillin, Gay Talese, Truman Capote, Jimmy Breslin, and Dominick Dunne to name just a few. I am quite sure that those interested in True Crime will enjoy this volume, but I am not such a devotee. Yet, I found this book captivating. I found the quality of the writing shockingly good and the broad span of time covered let me see how the culture changed over time. Seeing how people of different eras explained and tried to understand crime was also a way to gain insight into the human need to understand even when we have to make up explanations to fool ourselves into believing that the unexplainable can still make some sense. A great contribution and a fine addition to the LOA list of offerings. Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

This book does what any great anthology should do . . . sends the reader off in search of more of the orignal sources used. I had no idea that Jack Webb (of Dragnet fame) had published a book of true crime stories. I also went off in search of Abraham Lincoln's original writings that discussed the murder case detailed here. This book can be devoured from cover to cover or you can stretch it out over a longer period as filler between other books you are reading. Each section has an indepth introduction which completes the picture of what was happening with the particular case or author - - another indispensible attribute of a perfect anthology.

I hate to admit this publicly, but this excellent anthology highlights Americans' (including guilty me) macabre fascination with crime through famous authors who over the years, especially the last few decades, have made this into a powerful genre. The collection starts in colonial times with Puritan documents and Ben Franklin; runs into the nineteenth century with Bierce, Hawthorne and Mark Twain; and into the twentieth century and this decade with a genre who's who to include Dreiser, Thurber, Capote, Dunne, Rule, Ellroy and Talese. The compilation includes some of the most felonious activities in American history; several of which gained additional notoriety through movie versions like Double Indemnity, the Black Dahlia, and Compulsion. Finally, True Crime analyzes why people love the genre. This is a winner for fans as Harold Schechter analyzes the roots, the history, and the current popular state of the genre through authors and their subjects even with many of the cases included like Son of Sam of Bronx infamy well known. Harriet Klausner