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Criminal profiling—the delicate art of collecting and deciphering the psychological “fingerprints” of the monsters among us—holds an almost mythological status in pop culture. But what exactly is it, does it work, and why is the American public so entranced by it? What do we gain, and endanger, from studying why people commit murder? In The Monsters We Make, author Rachel Corbett explores how criminal profiling became one of society’s most seductive and quixotic undertakings through five significant moments in its histor
Corbett follows Arthur Conan Doyle through the London alleyways where Jack the Ripper butchered his victims, depicts the tailgate outside of Ted Bundy’s execution, and visits the remote Montana cabin where Ted Kaczynski assembled his antiestablishment bombs. Along the way emerge the people who studied and unraveled these cases. We meet self-taught psychologist Henry Murray, who profiled Adolf Hitler at the request of the U.S. government and later profiled his own students—including the future Unabomber—by subjecting them to cruel humiliation experiments. We also meet the prominent Yale psychiatrist Dorothy Lewis, who ended up testifying that Bundy was too sick to stand trial. Finally, Corbett takes the story into our own time, explaining the rise of modern “predictive policing” policies through a study of one Florida family that the analytics targeted—to devastating effects.
With narrative intrigue and deft research, Corbett delves deep into the mythology and reality of criminal profilers, revealing how thin the line can be separating those who do harm and those who claim to stop it.
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Mary Kelly was the final victim of the infamous Victorian-era serial killer, Jack The Ripper.
The circumstances of her death overshadow her life, and in The Last Dance of Mary Kelly , E. David Brown imagines for her a life and occupation beyond the "prostitute" label typically attributed to her. Having fled poverty in Ireland, Mary Kelly finds employment in a textile factory where she becomes embroiled in the workers' movement, and the investigations of American journalist, Bryson Ward. Victorian London doesn't "shine" in this novel of intrigue and historical injustices; rather, it seeps into the skin like a coal-infused fog, and keeps you hooked. Because you might think you know the history, but until you turn the final page you won't know the whole story.
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Bram Stoker: Author of Dracula is an affectionate and revealing biography of the man who created the vampire novel that would define the genre and lead to a new age in Gothic horror literature.
Based on decades of painstaking research in libraries, museums, and university archives and privileged access to private collections on both sides of the Atlantic, the private letters of Bram and the reminiscences of those who knew him not only shed new light on Stoker's ancestry, his life, loves and friendships they also reveal more about the places and people who inspired him and how he researched and wrote his books. Bram wrote numerous articles, short stories and poetry for newspapers and magazines, he had a total of eleven novels and two collections of short stories published in his lifetime, but he would only become known for one of them – Dracula. Tragically, he did not live long enough to see it as a huge success.
In his heyday as Acting Manager for Sir Henry Irving at the Lyceum Theatre in the West End of London, Bram was a well-known figure in a golden age of British theater. He was a big-framed, ebullient, genial, gentleman, with red hair and beard, who never lost his soft Irish brogue, was blessed with wit, and a host of entertaining stories fit for every occasion. Described as having the paw of Hercules and the smile of Machiavelli, above all he knew what it meant to be a loyal friend.
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There’s no question that The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is one of the most influential texts of all time. The now-iconic tale, which has confounded and thrilled readers for more than a century, was described by one scholar as the only detective-crime story in which the solution is more terrifying than the problem. And even as its plot gets continually reinterpreted and reimagined in literature, film, and theater, the main themes persist, as do the titular characters, now so familiar as to have become a part of the English language.
This new edition gives the classic tale of depraved murder and unrelenting horror its most complete and illuminating presentation yet. Heavily illustrated with over a hundred and fifty full color images from the history of this cultural touchstone—including reproductions of rare books, film stills, theatrical posters, and the true-life people associated with the adventure—and extensively annotated by Edgar Award winning editor and noted Victorian literature expert Leslie S. Klinger, this thorough and authoritative approach is both an invaluable resource for scholars and a sumptuous treat for fans of the text.
Introduced by a compelling and erudite essay from bestselling novelist and short story writer Joe Hill, this complete illustrated and annotated edition of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the ultimate tribute to an enduring classic, combining revelatory and surprising information and in-depth historical context with beautiful illustrations and photographs. It is sure to please anyone interested in the Victorian era, mystery fiction, and horror tales.
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Jack the Ripper did not exist.
This second, expanded, edition of Simon Daryl Wood's award-winning book continues to reveal the endless stream of lies, invention, political misinformation, self-publicity and opportunism which has kept this Victorian bogeyman alive in the darkest reaches of our 21st Century imaginations. It introduces characters many readers may not have encountered before, takes a closer look at some of Ripperology's sacred texts, and provides additional facts, allowing for a better understanding of the people, places and events surrounding the Whitechapel murders of 1888.
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London, 1942.
A killer going by the name of “Crimson Jack” is stalking the wartime streets of London, murdering women on the exact dates of the infamous Jack the Ripper killings of 1888. Has the Ripper somehow returned from the grave? Is the self-styled Crimson Jack a descendant of the original Jack—or merely a madman obsessed with those notorious killings?
In desperation Scotland Yard turn to Sherlock Holmes, the world's greatest detective. Surely he is the one man who can sift fact from legend to track down Crimson Jack before he completes his tally of death. As Holmes and the faithful Watson tread the blacked out streets of London, death waits just around the corner.
Inspired by the classic film series from Universal Pictures starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, which took Sherlock Holmes to the 1940s, this is a brand-new adventure from a talented author who brilliantly evokes one of mystery fiction’s most popular characters.
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A quiet morning at Baker Street is thrown into turmoil by the arrival of Inspector Lestrade who informs Holmes a man's body has been discovered in the Tower Bridge which was then under construction. That grisly event proves to be the opening salvo in a terrifying game of wits between Holmes and an unknown adversary.
Determined to make Sherlock Holmes suffer, the ruthless foe launches a campaign of terror against the Great Detective. However, instead of striking at Holmes directly, this nemesis targets those in the Great Detective's limited circle of friends and acquaintances.
Stymied, Holmes must first ascertain why he has been targeted because he cannot retaliate until he discovers who is behind this persecution.
With moves and countermoves, gambits declined and accepted, the struggle soon evolves into a human chess game between Holmes and a grandmaster of evil - where each move might have untold consequences on the lives and reputations of those on both sides.
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A4 softcover, 142 landscape pages in full colour throughout.
In the early years of the twentieth century, London was a city of opposites. The affluent west of the city was prosperous and wealthy, but in contrast the east was an area of poverty, crime and disease. Life expectancy was low, and the streets were filled with the homeless, the destitute and the sick.
When the American author Jack London ventured into the East End in the summer of 1902 to research the hopeless living conditions so typical of the area, he was to witness such sights as the cramped living conditions in shabby Frying Pan Alley, the revolting menial tasks that inmates of the Whitechapel casual ward carried out to pay for a dismal bed and a frugal meal of bread and ‘skilly’. In his book “The People of the Abyss”, a written account of his experiences, he relayed the tale of Dan Cullen, a resident of one of Whitechapel’s municipal dwellings, whose worsening health had forced him to move into the old Temperance Hospital, near Euston station. Jack had witnessed the sorry sight of the homeless sheltering under Tower Bridge and others trying to sleep by the steps of Christ Church in Spitalfields. He had tasted coffee and tea that was close in appearance to dirty dishwater and bore little resemblance to anything his readers might have drunk, and he had seen desperately hungry men and women pawing their way through the filthiest of meat scraps outside a butcher’s shop in Aldgate. In short, he had, if only briefly, lived the life of one of the people of the abyss, and had witnessed the horrendous life that circumstance had forced them to endure.
As well as his vivid written descriptions of the East End, Jack London also photographed a considerable number of evocative scenes to complement the text. These well-known images have been frequently reprinted over the years, often to illustrate books about Jack the Ripper and the East End in general.
But where exactly were these photographs taken? Jack London gives very little detail about the locations, choosing to caption the images vaguely as “A house to let” or the similarly ambiguous “Where the children grow up”. What do these obscure places look like today, and is there anything left of the old workhouses and dwellings that Jack London captured in his photos
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The autumn of 1888 went down in British history as “the autumn of terror”. From August to November, a serial killer named “Jack the Ripper” murdered five women in London’s East End and was never caught. His first “canonical” murder took place in Buck’s Row, Whitechapel, on 31 August. At around 3:45 am, two workmen, Charles Lechmere and Robert Paul, found the lifeless body of prostitute Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols in front of Brown’s Yard in Buck’s Row.
They decided to tell the next policeman they would meet. In the meantime, Police Constable Neil found the body and called for help and a doctor. Polly’s throat was cut and there were stab wounds in her stomach and her genitals. A small pool of blood had formed underneath her and soaked in her hair and her clothes. At this point, nobody knew that this gruesome murder was still only the beginning of a murder series.
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Investigative Reporter Carl Axford is offered the story of a lifetime. When recruited by Limbo, (a covert group that uses unique technology to solve cold cases), Axford is presented the chance to crack the greatest cold case in existence. Catch Jack The Ripper!
The opportunity of a front row seat to the Jack The Ripper murders seems too good to be true. What will Axford discover in 1888? Will he be able to identify history’s greatest criminal and bring him to justice? Or does Victorian Whitechapel hold further secrets that influence events of the past as well as the present?
Jack The Ripper may not be the only mystery Axford has to solve.
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Would Sherlock Holmes be able to catch Jack the Ripper?
Everyone knows the name of Sherlock Holmes -- the fictional detective created by Arthur Conan Doyle with his superhuman powers of observation and unbeatable methodology for solving crimes. But could his 1800’s philosophy really work in the modern world to solve genuine crimes?
That’s the very question that a real-life US-based private detective asked himself before embarking on the adventure of a lifetime by stepping into Holmes’ shoes and using his mindset to solve real crimes. So effective was this method that he decided to turn his attention to the greatest set of crimes known in history -- the brutal murders perpetrated by the criminal who came to be known as Jack the Ripper.
The author, along with a team of three of the world’s top forensic scientists and criminologists, Dr. Michael M. Baden, Dr. Cyril H. Wecht and Dr. Henry C. Lee, have convincingly solved the infamous Jack the Ripper murders of 1888 London – arguably the world’s most talked-about unsolved murder mystery. But their true-life resolution of the case is presented here in the form of a Sherlock Holmes novel, painstakingly penned faithfully in the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In it, the author – who actually used Holmes’ methods to uncover the killers’ identity – explains exactly how the crimes were committed and by whom, all in the form of a fast-paced thriller featuring the world’s most beloved detective along with Dr. Watson, from whose point-of-view most of the tale is told. Once the reader has finally been clued in on the final solution, the murders are then revisited from the killers’ perspective.
The story opens in the year 2017 with the sealed box of Holmes’ most controversial cases being opened by Watson’s great grandson Jacob, and among those cases is that of London’s Ripper murders that took place in what was then and has forever after been known as the “Autumn of Terror.” Jacob is shocked to learn the true story, as well as the reasons Holmes deemed the case’s explosive resolution too shocking and incendiary to have been revealed to the public in Victorian England and so to be sealed “entombed in a tin box” for 125 years, as were a number of other cases that are mentioned in some of Doyle’s Holmes stories. Along the way, the actual facts of the case and the evidence that led Randy and his team to the real killer will be revealed to the reader through Holmes’ investigative methods.
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