Customer Reviews

Bloodletters and Badmen: A Narrative Encyclopedia of American Criminals from the Pilgrims to the Present

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A truly awe-inspiring work, this volume is that rare being: a non-fictional crime book that suceeds in sheer storytelling power.

However, I did not give it 5 stars because Nash is not always reliable with the facts. For instance, he moans to the world that the infamous Dr. H. H. Holmes ACTUALLY KILLED OVER TWO HUNDRED WOMEN!!!! In fact, Harold Schector, in his Holmes bio "Depraved," tells us that the number of bodies uncovered in the good doctor's house was never positively identified, since all the bones were hopelessly jumbled up, and that the actual number probably did not go nearly so high.

Also, Nash insists that a frenzied Holmes, about to be hung, cried out to protest his innocence and identify one of his victims as the real killer. Nash simply cannot resist treating this desperate plea for life as tantalizing evidence of an unsolved mystery. GIVE ME A BREAK, MR. NASH!!! After just pointing out how much of a notorious liar Holmes had always been, you suddenly go and turn novelistic on us. Shame on you.

In fact, in Schector's recounting we see an unaffraid Holmes, cool to the last, calmly reminding the hangmen not to make the noose too tight, and then swinging to his death without so much as a gag. This version is more believable, based on the fiend's personality, and is borne out by contemporary newspaper accounts. Why forsake the hard facts for Nash's dime novel retelling?

Otherwise, "Bloodletters and Badmen is highly recommended!

This is the best of Jay Robert Nash's generally not very good volumes of crime history. It has a wonderful bibliography, probably including hundreds of books, pamphlets, documents, articles, etc., that Nash hasn't read, and a magnificent collection of photos, maybe the best anywhere. Other than making a good doorstop, however, that's about the best that can be said of this book. It's literally strewn with errors and also borrows shamelessly, from such books as Capone by John Kobler and The Bad Ones by Lew Louderback. If you're looking for a good historical crime encyclopedia, pass this one up and go to The Encyclopedia of American Crime by Carl Sifakis.

Bloodletters and Badmen is a fine coffee table book about the history of crime in America. Open to pretty much any page and you'll find an intriguing article; and with over six hundred pages there's certainly a lot to get through. The book covers pretty much every type of crook you could imagine, from serial killers and spree murderers, to Depression-era outlaws and Mob bosses, Old West gunslingers and sex offenders, kidnappers and cannibals, swindlers and bank robbers, crimes of passion and assassins. Most of the most notorious crooks are here, along with many obscure ones you're likely to have never heard of. Nash is a fine writer with an electrifying style; his writing style is terse, crisp and wonderfully descriptive. It's passionate, which inevitably leads to bias on occasions, but mostly it makes for gripping reading.

To be sure, much of Nash's stuff is historically suspect, with the occasional hyperbole, exaggeration and misrepresentation. His chapter on Carl Wanderer, the "Ragged Stranger" murderer, has since been disputed by several other crime historians. He inflates notorious mass murderer H.H. Holmes' already grisly body count to epic proportions. He seems to accept the J. Edgar Hoover-propagated story of Ma Barker as criminal mastermind, when most other historians discount that she did anything more than profit off her son's criminal careers. Most questionable is his lengthy advocacy of the theory that John Dillinger somehow faked his own death and escaped justice. So far as I know Nash is about the only serious criminologist to believe this theory, and it's been all but debunked I think by this point in time.

Still, Bloodletters and Badmen is an overall fine and fascinating read, an occasional error notwithstanding. Take it with a grain of salt at times, but it's certainly worth one's time.

Depending on what you enjoy in a true crime, this one has just about everything. It would be better if more was known about certain ones that made a major impact on some peoples lives. But there are other parts that are very good. Yet it doesn't need to have so many mafia/mobsters in it. Capone, Massacres and things of that nature are fine, But hinchmen who just had a scary name need not be involved. As well as bodyguards and so-on.

Back in its' day, this book served the same function that Wikipedia does now-it was a gateway to hundreds of topics and people and places related to true crime. Before cable TV and the interweb, this was the way to grab general information on Baby Face Nelson, Albert Fish, H. H. Holmes, Bonnie and Clyde, the Dalton Gang and scores of others. Nash was never one to let historical accuracy get in the way of a juicy story or conspiracy theory; so you need to tread lightly on the details-but this can't be beat for sheer exposure to people you'd otherwise probably never know.

Excellent details if you really are interested in the true story versus the Hollywwood version.
Other people have read and purchased the book after thumbing thru my copy.
They thought it was a fine book also.

I originally purchased this book some years back and refer to it frequently. It includes all the notable criminals, Jesse James, John Dillinger, more recent serial killers, etc. It is well-researched and Nash has the ability to make even the most mundane facts interesting.

I'm not sure if Jay Robert Nash's various crime books are always the most accurate -- many of his mini-narratives seem to be distilled from various contemporary legends & newspaper accounts. But who cares? Nash has a rare talent for writing little tiny compelling crime tales. The biographies in this book are like M&M's; you sit down to gobble a few and end up going through the entire package.

Lately I've been reading about how inaccurate this book is, and that Nash is pretty much a "write what ya want" kind of author. The reason I give this book five stars is because of the influence it had on my interest in true crime books. This massive tome sat in the library of my high school, where it was frequently read by myself and my friends. We actually stole the book right before we graduated! Thank God the statute of limitations on that crime ran out years ago.

The copy I have now is the revised 90's edition, and I can read through it with more of a critical eye then I once did. The best thing about the book is the photos. This book is a virtual cornucopia of great pics of criminals, crime scenes and the like. Some of the best pictures are of the Mafia, a particular strain of criminal that Nash has a lot of interest in, judging by the huge amount of entries devoted to that group.

A reader will also notice how temporal the book is. Who has heard of Gretchen Baniszewski? Anyone who hasn't read this book would be in the dark about this sicko. Baniszewski might have been a big name when she committed her crimes, but readers now will scratch their heads trying to figure out why she is in this book. (Baniszewski, by the way, helped murder a young girl left in her charge). Other entries are pretty tabloidy, and don't really belong in an encyclopedia of crime, in my opinion.

Some entries are absolutely fascinating, however. Alfred Packer is always worth a chuckle, and be sure and read about the Old Brewery in New York. You'll be dumbfounded that such a place ever existed in America, although it was New York, after all.

I recommend the book for the photos and obscure cases. Be wary of the factual information, however.

Who cares if the book is histrionic and innacurate? It has excellent pictures and juciy crime tidbits like the depraved housewife who branded "I AM A PROSTITUE AND PROUD" with a hot needle on the belly of the young girl left in her charge (while the girl's parents travelled with the circus, no less). You also get stagecoach robbers, confidence men, joy killers and petty thieves all descibed in a feverish, tabloid tone. Gotta love it!

The book definitely influenced my tender, young sensibilities and helped develop my life-long fascination with crime and the American prison industrial complex. This should be in every American pre-teen's bookshelf!