Customer Reviews

Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder

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Fox and Levin are leading authors in the field of criminolgy. Jack Levin's books on hate crimes are among the best academic work on the subject and I assign them to my students. That's why I was surprised at the non-academic tone of this book. It utilizes some research but reads more like a true-crime book, full of all the gory (and super-gory) details. It's too much to ask students to read (although the sections on profiling are very good). The sources used are also questionable. Dr. Joyce Bothers? The worst is James Dobson, right-wing homophobe for Jesus and leader of the quasi-hate group, Focus on the Family, as an "expert" on the impact of pornography. Dobson has no place in an acedemic text, unless it's one of Levin's books on hate.

The "Massacres" section of the book has lots of valuable insights on mass murders and my students are reading it now, but if you are looking for the definitve research on serial killers, I would suggest Eric Hickey's "Serial Murderers and Their Victims." And hopefully the second edition of "Extreme Killing" will focus on the research.

Dated (BTK was not yet caught when written) and manages to make a fascinating subject almost boring. Still, if you can get for a low price worth a look.