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