True Crime: An American Anthology [Hardcover]

Harold Schechter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 18, 2008

Americans have had an uneasy fascination with crime since the earliest European settlements in the New World, and right from the start true crime writing became a dominant genre in American writing. True Crime: An American Anthology offers the first comprehensive look at the many ways in which American writers have explored crime in a multitude of aspects: the dark motives that spur it, the shock of its impact on society, the effort to make sense of the violent extremes of human behavior. Here is the full spectrum of the true crime genre, including accounts of some of the most notorious criminal cases in American history: the Helen Jewett murder and the once-notorious ?Kentucky tragedy? of the 1830s, the assassination of President Garfield, the Snyder- Gray murder that inspired Double Indemnity, the Lindbergh kidnapping, the Black Dahlia, Leopold and Loeb, and the Manson family. True Crime draws upon the writing of literary figures as diverse as Nathaniel Hawthorne (reporting on a visit to a waxworks exhibit of notorious crimes), Ambrose Bierce, Mark Twain, Theodore Dreiser (offering his views on a 1934 murder that some saw as a ?copycat? version of An American Tragedy), James Thurber, Joseph Mitchell, and Truman Capote and sources as varied as execution sermons, murder ballads, early broadsides and trial reports, and tabloid journalism of many different eras. It also features the influential true crime writing of best-selling contemporary practitioners like James Ellroy, Gay Talese, Dominick Dunne, and Ann Rule.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Schechter (American literature, Queens Coll., CUNY; The Devil's Gentleman: Privilege, Poison, and the Trial That Ushered in the Twentieth Century) has put together a sweeping anthology covering the history of crime in America and showcasing some of the best American crime writing. Arranged by publication date, the selections are mostly magazine-length retellings of American crimes, including Puritan execution sermons, murder ballads, and cringe-worthy heinous accounts. The authors selected vary from the colonial (e.g., Benjamin Franklin) to the literary (e.g., Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain, Truman Capote) to current best-selling experts (e.g., Dominick Dunne, Ann Rule, Calvin Trillin, James Ellroy). The all-too-familiar tales are here—Leopold and Loeb, Charles Manson, Son of Sam—but Schechter also includes some stories that received less press and may be new to readers, like the 1930s case of the Cleveland "butcher" and the 1873 axe murders on Smutty Nose Island, NH. Readers will find it difficult to put down this delightful treasury encompassing some of the best crime writing from colonial times to today. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries.—Karen Sandlin Silverman, Library Svcs., Ctr. for Applied Research, Philadelphia
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine

The Library of America is best known for its dedication to keeping obscure but worthy American authors in print. Critics noted that this collection affirms this tradition, drawing attention to authors and characters most readers would otherwise miss (James Thurber, Theodore Dreiser, Susan Glaspell, and Zora Neale Hurston, for example). Reviewers consistently emphasized Harold Schechter's editorial discernment: as both a connoisseur and practitioner of the genre, he knew enough to skip the obvious (no excerpts from In Cold Blood), narrow his criteria (just homicide here), and craft a collection of 50 stories that say just as much about America as they do about murder. "One does not typically look to true-crime reporting for outstanding writing—just the facts will suffice—but there is plenty of class in this volume," concludes the Washington Post.
Copyright 2008 Bookmarks Publishing LLC

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 900 pages
• Publisher: Library of America; First Edition edition (September 18, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1598530313
• ISBN-13: 978-1598530315
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.9 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #542,493 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Anthology, November 29, 2008

By 

Bob Bingo "onislayer" (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: True Crime: An American Anthology (Hardcover)

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.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I found the writing better than I had expected and the stories captivating, January 1, 2009

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: True Crime: An American Anthology (Hardcover)

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

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a winner for fans of true crime, November 7, 2008

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: True Crime: An American Anthology (Hardcover)

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