THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MURDER

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The compilers chose their more than 300 accounts of murder and murders by outstanding, circumstances surrounding, the crime, extraordinary method of perpetration, or some unusual legal point raised at the trial. The reports, running from a half to three or four pages, are straight reporting jobs, extremely well-written, with no noticeable omission of lurid detail. In the prefaces, the authors present opposing points of view. Wilson attributes his interest in murder to an existentialist philosopher's concern with that which man must surmount before he can become a superman and, like Dostoievsky, purports to teach the possibilities of choice by negative example. The murderer is different in degree, not in kind. Pitman eschews any metaphysical explanation for her interest. The murderer is indeed different from the normal run of men in his instinctive lack of reverence for life. This work will most likely be used by the normally curious as casual, random reading. Frank Lynder does some stunning analyses of German and Japanese war crimes.

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ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1961

Categories: NONFICTION