5 comments about The Case That Never Dies: The Lindbergh Kidnapping.

1. As someone who has researched the Lindbergh kidnapping extensively for the past fifteen to sixteen years and as someone who is currently writing a book on the case, I waited with baited breath for many months for this book. I was hopeful that, based on Mr. Gardner's reputation, that this would be a significant book on the case that would dispel many of the legends and falsehoods associated with the case. I could not have been more disappointed.
   
   From a literary standpoint, the book was not written well. It is a tedious read and lacks any prominent ending. The book just stops.
   
   The theories offered by Gardner are not consistent with the facts and evidence. There are only two new pieces of evidence offered and no significant discussion of the "tabletop confession" which is the latest and most significant development in the case in at least ten years.
   
   Even more disturbing are the casual references to outlandish theories without any evidence or support. For example, Gardner suggests that Violet Sharpe -- the victim of a suicide-- was actually murdered by Septimus Banks. This one line is extreme and not one iota of proof is offered. There are many other examples.
   
   Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the book are the inaccurate citations. At one point, Gardner accuses John Condon of sexual improriety with a student and actually cites Condon's own memoirs as support. When I referered to my 1st edition copy of Condon's book and checked the citation, there was absolutely nothing there.
   
   In all, the book was a major disappointment. I gave it one star because it is the lowest rating your system permits.
   
   There are arguments to be made on both sides of this great case. As an expert in this area, I very much enjoy good debate and was hoping this book would be intellectually stimulating. Instead, Mr. Gardner served only to further muddy the waters.



2. The dust jacket of The Case That Never Dies by Lloyd Gardner (Rutgers Univ Press, 2004), states this is the first book [on the LKC] by a historian. Whether Hauptmann was guilty or not, Gardner concludes there was insufficient evidence to convict him of first degree murder. Hmmm... what then was he guilty of? Manslaughter, extortion, bad luck, or anti-German prejudice?
   
   There is much newly uncovered documentation, mainly from the FBI Records at College Park, Maryland, and the NJSP Archive. But totally omitted, for reasons that are unclear (for 3 years of delving), are the repositories known as the Bronx DA'a Papers and the NYPD Archives. Charles Appel's Treasury Report on Hauptmann's handwriting, and detailed analyses on ransom bill passing prior to the notorious shoebox discovery, are simply ignored.
   
   Unfortunately, despite the advertising, the CTND is simply the latest book that has tried to sort through endless reams of data, but still manages to get many historical details egregiously wrong.
   
   Characters and dates, ages, and other book titles are mangled throughout - misspelling even Hauptmann's name and that of the fortune tellers Peter and Mary Birrittella (two different ways on the same page), and even the 'Sheraton' Theatre in Greenwich Village. Sometimes Joe Perrone is John Perrone. On p. 305, he claims that Hauptmann's German-English Dictionary never appeared at the Trial - but it WAS introduced by the Prosecution and is listed in the Exhibits section.
   
   The technique used in the chapters on personalities mainly concern innuendo - why was CALjr's picture on the Wanted poster taken from his first birthday party (it wasn't), and why did Betty Gow really use those safety pins to fasten Charley's blanket the night of Mar 1, 1932? We are ominously told (p. 410) that the baby was suffering from a rare malady called (craniotobes) - brittle bones of the head. The correct term is actually craniotabes and its definition is quite the opposite - excessive softening of cranial structures. The truth, rather banal, is that the child suffered from rickets, for which he was being treated by daily doses of Viosterol and artifical (ultraviolet) light - a fact freely admitted in the diet published in the newspapers. Statements in one chapter are contradicted in another, as if the author has not read his own book.
   
   For example, some lost inventory cards have been found at the NJSPM which indicate that plaster casts were made of footprints at Hopewell - not specifically however of the footprint under the window. On p. 369, we are told that the State Police kept this exculpatory information from the Defense, and yet on p. 319, we are reminded that the very same details were openly printed on the front page of the NY Times (in a highlighted box), before the Trial (Sept 28). So which is it?
   
   There are 2 photos of John Condon making the most of his new found fame and a single line, in passing, that JFC (alone) refused to accept any of the Lindbergh reward money. Rarely is an honest gesture understood. A mysterious footnote that Katy Fredericksen was having an affair the night she claimed that Anna was working is given as a Confidential Source. No further explanation... This is worthy of Startling Detective magazine, and keeps the pulp tradition of the 1930s alive.
   
   What about the myths that have accumulated about the LKC over the years - should an historian help to dispel those? It doesn't happen here - on p. 19, once again we read that Lindbergh (forgot about a speaking engagement in NYC) on that fateful Tuesday. But the original records at NYU show exactly what happened - Lindbergh's secretary was misinformed and he thought he had agreed to show up on Friday, but not to speak. Chancellor Brown's wife had died in the interim and the date was sent in error.
   
   Gardner deserves credit for locating the Mar 1-15, 1932 Reliance Payroll (at the NJSPM) - the one so touted by Scaduto and Kennedy as holding the key. So why not show it? Aha - Hauptmann's name is not there, as the Prosecution always said.
   
   Should anyone get this book? I have to say (reluctantly) "yes." Despite my serious reservations about the poor use of the documentation and the self-defeating methodology and tone, Gardner does manage to cite a lot of material which will prove endlessly useful - to others.



3. There is something in the nature of crimes of note (and the conspiracies and competing theories they engender) that bring out the zealot in all of us. Such seems to be the case with the reactions to Dr Gardner's The Case That Never Dies : The Lindbergh Kidnapping. As noted elsewhere, Dr Gardner is the first professional historian to tackle the case, at least in book form. And his credentials are impressive: a professor of history at Rutgers University and the recipient of two Fulbright Professorships and a Guggenheim Fellowship. But credentials count for little when faced with the competing theories of die-hard case followers.
   
   Dr Gardner's work is without doubt the best researched of all books on the case and a raft of new information is brought to the fore, all of it meticulously footnoted. However, where Dr Gardner differs from previous authors is his overall approach to analysing the case and the evidence. While the other major works are best described as "theory" books - i.e. they set out to prove Hauptmann innocent or Hauptmann guilty and wear such motives on their sleeves - Dr Gardner instead attempts to put the events in historical context and draws parallels with modern day attitudes to capital punishment. He poses more questions than he answers; he gives fertile ground for additional research. This, perhaps, is the nub of the problem for the self-appointed experts.
   
   Discourse on the case today tends to focus on competing - and hotly disputed - theories. There is no generally accepted truth of the Lindbergh case, save that accepted in a court of law in Flemington in 1935. And that, after all, is but one theory. What seems to have enraged the natives is Dr Gardner's refusal to adopt a particular theory, his reluctance to draw conclusions, to join them on whatever side of the fence they happen to be. But that is a reflection of the book that they wished to read (or in some cases write) rather than the book which Dr Gardner - as is his right - chose to pen.
   
   The book itself does contain some typos and there are some minor errors (and other alleged errors which are in fact just differences of interpretation), but to distort these into damnation of the book as a whole is to rather miss the point. For any student of the crime, this is an indispensable read and the most thorough reference book on the case. One doesn't have to agree with all of Dr Gardner's interpretations because the evidence itself is presented so clearly and is so well referenced that anyone who wishes to research further can do so off the back of Dr Gardner's hard work. The book focuses on the central timeline and the arrest and conviction of Hauptmann. The tangential stories of hoaxers Curtis and Means are given little further exposure as Dr Gardner chooses to concentrate on the meat of the case.
   
   Expertise on the Lindbergh case is not measured through any long-service medal, or by commitment to any official theory but rather by recognising that however much one does know, one does not know everything. And that is what Dr Gardner offers: something for every student of the case, new or old. And given the mountain of literature on the case already, what more can anyone ask but that?



4. After reading the other reviews I was apprehensive about purchasing this book, but I was pleasently surprised by it. The author has spent much time ferreting out those small but important details that make the Lindbergh kidnapping so enigmatic and entrancing. While there may be mistakes to be found in this work, I don't think they in any way detract from the overall balance of the book. I found Lloyd Gardner's book to be insightful and well tempered. Highly recommended for the serious or first time Lindbergh kidnapping reader.



5. "The Case That Never Dies: The Lindbergh Kidnapping", Lloyd Gardner, Rutgers Univ. Ress, NJ, 2004. ISBN: 0-8135-3385-6, HC 415 pgs., plus Notes 44 pgs., Biblio. 4 pgs., Index 14 pgs., and 30 B & W Photographs/Illustrations. 9 1/2" x 6 1/2".
   
   Gardner, a distinguished Prof. of History & author of a dozen books gives a fair-minded exaustive analysis of the Lindbergh baby's kidnapping (Mar. 1, 1932), ransom, murder, and the subsequent apprehension, trial (Jan. 2, 1935), conviction and execution (Apr. 3, 1936) of german immigrant Bruno Richard Hauptmann (BRH). To the chagrin of many readers, but more-so to the author's credit, is Gardner's neutrality or foregoing of taking one side or the other, but rather walking a fine line to avoid and evade bias, prefering facts to speak for themselves but still pointing out errors made by authorities & both legal counsels.
   
   The writer drew heavily upon FBI records and from the official Police records, papers and documents in repositaries, museums, etc. Of interest are photographs of the colorful notables and of the Lindbergh's home floor plans. The book has 16 chapters, each rather sharply devoted to the testimony or viewpoints of a specific person, topic or subject matter. The read is tedious at times for much is built upon recorded witness testimony in and out of court, oft "she-says he-says", and at many times outbursts from questionable sources having questionable motives -- but all of which is part and parcel of the Hauptmann trial. We learn, for example, of the tricky and complicated money transfers by BRH in a variety of business schemes and con games, stock market tradings, possibly money laundering, and how the ransom money gold certificates were crucial in finding BRH, and of the sundry hiding sites BRH used to stash away the ransom moneys. The author also deals with the previously noted imperfections of baby Lindbergh, alleged to have overlapping of toes bilaterally, enlarged cranium with open fontanelle and mention is made of possible rickets (not uncommon in those days, but no mention of possible hydrocephalus). Gardner also notes the 1948 discovery by Bolliard in NJ of writing on the underside of a small table that also had a small metal brace whose holes were discovered by Falzini in 2002 to matched the markings of the ransom notes precisely.
   
   "It was a two million dollar funeral", although BRH was a declared pauper, brought to bear by the states of NJ, NY and the USA to "turn a human being into a whisp of smoke and a jar of dust", said Lloyd Fisher. In the end, "Gardner concludes that there was insuffient evidence to convict him (BRH) of first-degree murder." It remains the finest documented book I've encountered on this subject, a must read.

5 comments about The Missing Girls: A Shocking True Story of Abduction and Murder (St. Martin's True Crime Library).

1. THE STORY WAS O.K., BUT HER HUSBAND SOUNDS LIKE A SAINT!! IF I HAD MY DRUTHERS, I WISH I HADN'T BOUGHT THIS BOOK.



2. I picked this book up because I remembered the story of the two missing girls, but I never knew the outcome. I was very interested in what happened. Unfortunately this book is so poorly written I don't think I can finish it. Whoever was the editor/ghost writer for this book was either blind or an idiot. Don't waste your money or your time. I really hope a talented person or even semi-talented person decides to write this story over, anything would have to be better than this book.



3. I tackled this book with relish, but found that it was too drawn out alot of time, and should have been condensed a little. Ms. O'Neal, while to be admired for her efforts, did seem to overplay her role in this case. Also, being a family member, she was very "soft" on her comments on Ashley's mother, who should've never allowed her daughter to be near that man. At least the man was found and convicted, so the family has some closure. A recommended read if a true crime fan, but not for the reader just looking for a good story.



4. The entire narrative concentrates on how the author was the "only" one who was capable of finding the truth. In some deluded wanna be V. I. Warshawski way, writing with hind sight being 20/20, she was obviously correct and always on the right trail... Or maybe just cashing in on the fact that she lived in the area at the time that it occurred and therefore can claim some fame. It is a poorly written recap of news articles available to everyone.



5. This book was well-written and it gave good insight into the whole case of the murder of these two young girls,Miranda and Ashley. I read true crime often and I believe the best true crime stories present a solid background that explain things like family dynamics,environment,different types of social behaviors and things like that.
   
   The reason I say the book is disturbing is, of course the nature of the crime against these two children and how this evil man could do the things he did to them. Especially Ashley-someone needs to explain to me how her mother allowed her to go and live with this man, a man who eventually raped her and took her life. I also do NOT believe that a man as depraved as Weaver did not ever assault/molest his own daughter. I think she was scared to tell the truth-but it's either tell the truth and get counseling for what she endured-or suffer with the nightmares for the rest of her life. I just really hope the daughter got help, and as for Weaver I hope he got hell in prison.

5 comments about Give a Boy a Gun: A True Story of Law and Disorder in the American West.

1. As the daughter of Bill Pogue, one of the Game Wardens murdered by Claude Dallas, I know the true story of what happened that day. Jack Olson did a wonderful job of interviewing almost anyone involved and investigating the lifestyle of Claude Dallas that led to this tragic event. I learned as much from reading this book as I did sitting through the long and frustrating trial.



2. Read "Outlaw" by Jeff Long as well. He interviewed several key people that Mr. Olsen did not include (most declined to be interviewed at the time). All in all a fairly accurate and factual book and if you lived in the area at the time it stirs strong memories and emotions. Those who lived close to the events cannot forget Bill Pogue and Conley Elms.



3. In getting to know Claude via correspondence for several years,I believe that I can make a fairly accurate assessment of Claude's true character. Therefore, I believe I can fairly assess the book's veracity and plausibility. The book was interesting, entertaining, and exciting. Mr. Olsen presented the story in as truthful a manner as he could-considering he did not know Claude. In my opinion, overall, a very good book!



4. This book was extremely well written, and I would recommend it to anyone, regardless of their particular interests or hobbies. I know it is a cliche to say that "I could not put this book down," but it fits here. Olsen's writing style is easy and flows well. The whole story is so tragic, but I think the author does a good job of analyzing the events surrounding the murders of two Idaho fish and game wardens. Claude Lafayette Dallas, Jr. is clearly a murderer and yet he also has some sympathetic qualities that the author brings forth. It's a shame that the book is out of print, but if you look hard enough you can get a copy (thankfully, Internet searches will make it easier for you).



5. A very compelling story told nicely in one of the earlier books of true crime writer Jack Olsen.
   
   The story is fairly and dramatically presented and the author does of good job of giving the reader charachter background to make the story matter.

5 comments about To Kill and Kill Again (Onyx True Crime ; Je 323).

1. Definitly a book for adults only, this is the tale of a furniture delivery man named John Wayne Nance who is confirmed as having killed four and possibly eight people in a twelve year period up until his death in 1986. He attacked a couple in their home who fought back and killed him. My heart went out to the victims and their families, in particular three orphaned children. John Nance must have been SICK to do the revolting crimes he did and to hell he can go!! The book is a moving account of what happened and also very graphic. Two of the victims remain unidentified to this day. May those who died rest in peace.



2. I worked at Conlins in 1982-83, and became good friends with Sheila Claxton and Wayne Nance. She was another sales person and Wayne was one of the delivery guys. We spent many hours at work and after together as friends. He was very mysterious to say the least. When he did weird things we just agreed it was just Wayne. After he tried to kill our friends and Manager of the Conlins Store, we knew he had done it and all the other killings, but it was not until I finished the book that it became real to me... and I was truly afraid....

   I had moved to Missoula just as the Ministers wife was killed, and then the children found along the highway, later women, and former clients dying under mysterious circumstances. Then having it all placed in front of you and finding out it is a friend who has done it was almost too much to believe.

   This was a wonderful, suspence filled, truthful book and I thank him for telling the story. Our lives will never be the same. I am sure you will share it with others after you have read it.




3. When I was 5 years old in Missoula, Wayne Nance murdered my best friend. I will never, even all these years later, shake what he did - this book helped me come to grips with a small part of what happened as I was too young then to understand. I'm glad for that, but on the other hand, I'm torn. The victims of his horrific crimes deserve far more attention than he got in the end. My friend deserved better. *ALL* his victims deserved better.



4. I lived in Missoula MT at the time this guy was on his murder spree. My sister went to school with him. I was in school at the time and not even aware of any of this going on. This book is very interesting and certainly would make any reader sharpen their radar for wierdos. Keep your head on a swival and maintain awareness. I could not put the book down, it is very good and very creepy.



5. John Coston has written a rapid-paced true crime thriller about Wayne Nance who killed mostly women and girls for 12 years.
   The actual number of victims is not known.
   
   His childhood was a disturbing one with Nance frequently getting into trouble and in one instance showing a cruel streak directed at some kittens. He also had an acute interest in the occult and sacrificed animals. Nance was definitely a loosely-wrapped head case when he started murdering as a teenager. What made him so dangerous was his ability to earn peoples' trust and come across as almost normal while hiding the fact that he was "a mercurial,seething psycho".
   
   Like a lot of serial killers you read about, Wayne Nance made mistakes and kept a few trophies. He avoided detection in small part by the tunnel vision of the sheriff in one of the cases. What's frustrating about the case was the fact that one of the investigators early on suspected him but couldn't get enough evidence. Things were a lot harder before DNA became a tool for law enforcement and Nance was very lucky.
   
   He was also an anomaly among serial killers, prowling a very small area and avoiding detection for more than a decade.
   
   "To Kill and Kill Again" is a riveting true crime book. Among the best at telling the story not only of the killer and his victims,but also the heroic survivor who ended the killing spree.

5 comments about The Cheaters: The Walter Scott Murder.

1. This was my first true crime book and it took place in my own backyard. This book was well researched and the photos helped to connect to the story line. From cover to cover, Priesmeyer unfolds the story with gripping after gripping chapter. This book was hard to put down. A definite must read for any true crime aficionado.



2. Priesmeyer's careful rendering of the tale that ultimately ended Scott's life and career is an engaging read, even for those of us who do not regularly choose true-crime books. If it is true that there are really only ten stories and that we tell them over and over again--then this is the story of crime not paying, and it is told well.
   Reading Priesmeyer's detailed depictions of those she interviewed, one has the suspicion that she'd rather be writing poems, but that this story came her way and she was compelled to tell it. And tell it she does.
   Dick Clark has said that music is the soundtrack of our lives, and for those of us who came of age during Scott's heyday, it is impossible to read this book without the song playing, haunting the pages.



3. I liked this book for the fact that the author didn't try to portray the victim as perfect, as so many true crime authors tend to do.
   
   I can't understand why a prior poster called the book "one sided." Just the opposite!
   
   Even Walter Scott's parents didn't come off as completely blameless. His mother, after all, did spoil her son shamelessly. No wonder he thought he could do anything he wanted to any woman he wanted whenever he wanted.
   
   JoAnn Williams helped to break up a marriage. She got a man who cheated on his first wife. Did she expect him to magically change? And why didn't she just go ahead and get a divorce from Walter? This is still America - a wife doesn't need permission from her husband to divorce him, particularly if he is committing adultery. Jim Williams should have done the same: gone the divorce route instead of murdering his wife, Sharon.
   
   All in all, Scottie Priesmeyer does a good job of story-telling.



4. I enjoyed this book very much. It combines celebrity biography with murder mystery. It was very well written and captured the characters well. Walter Scott as lead singer with the band Bob Kuban and the In Men had a big hit in the 1960's with a song called "The Cheater". It is ironic that his hit was about a no good cheating man who ends up alone and broken hearted, because in real life Walter Scott had affairs that not only ruined his marriages but cost him his life. Its a good read for most baby boomers.



5. This book was as truthful as one could get without all parties together in one room being interviewed. It shows that a crime of passion does not always go the way the villians wants it to. I wonder if JoAnn Williams, even though shes not in jail anymore, has a good life knowing she was involved in the murder.
   I read this book when it first came out in the mid 1990s. Since it happened in my own neighborhood, while I was living there in the subdivision, I have read it again in 2007.

5 comments about Seduced by Madness: The True Story of the Susan Polk Murder Case.

1. Author Carol Pogash does something miraculous: she reinvents the true crime genre to such a degree that other authors will find it difficult to match her! From the first page to the last, you're riveted to this real life drama of a psychotic and dangerous woman--Susan Polk--who butchered her husband--and then tried to blame it on that favorite alibi of many female killers: the battered wife syndrome. We first find Susan Polk puttering around her kitchen while the body of her psychologist husband rests in a river of blood in the nearby pool house where she forced him to live. She waits for one of her sons, Gabe, to find the corpse and then shows no emotion when her son tells her the news. With this introduction, you're led through their lives in fascinating detail--from Susan's mentally disturbed childhood up to the reasons she finally decided to murder her husband. Pogash creates each of the leading characters in colorful detail--and you're taken through the various psychological fads--such as the satanic child abuse craze of the 70s and then through the repressed memory cycle. Susan threw herself into each of these crazes--first, convinced that somehow that one of her sons was abused in satanic rituals. Then she was convinced through repressed memory that her husband, Felix, had hynoptized her and used drugs to seduce her as a teenager aganst her will. She became convinced he was a Mossad agent of death and that he knew 9/11 was going to happen. Yet, she's shown as being aggressively involved in the seduction of Felix. Pogash then goes into an even more fascinating part of this saga by covering the murder trial of Susan Polk. You're introduced to the attorneys, the witnesses and the courtroom junkies. Susan ends up representing herself and her madness is now seen by the public and jurors. Her bizarre courtroom antics--laughing, crying and shrieking at the prosecutor and judge--turned her case into a circus sideshow. While she claims to have been severely abused as a wife, you realize that her poor husband was forced to live in the pool house and was terrified of this woman. Yet, until the end, Felix told people how much he still loved her-even after she warned him that she was returning from a vacation in Montana with a shotgun and that she was going to kill him. This is what is so mystifying about this man. Even after continual threats against his life by his wife, he refused to move out and proclaimed his great love for this woman who now hated him. During the trial, one son, Eli, never wavered in defending his killer Mother. Two other sons depicted her as evil, psychotic and a relentless trouble-maker both in their home and to the neighbors and school staffs. I dreaded coming to the end of this book because it was so brilliantly written. Bravo to the author for breathing new life into the true crime genre which, unfortuntately, consists of too many books that are badly written and consist of nothing more than a cut-and-paste job by hack writers.



2. Carol Pogash's SEDUCED BY MADNESS chronicles the relatively well known case of the murder of psychologist Felix Polk by his wife Susan. Pogash's book begins with the childhoods of Felix and Susan, the twisted beginning of their relationship, the births of their three sons, and the dysfunctional life of the family up to and including Felix's murder.
   The family breadwinner was an emotionally flawed Felix, who, while he appears to have been a good and loving father and husband, fatally poisoned the marriage, which took place when Susan was around 20 and Felix around 45, by initiating a sexual relationship with Susan when she was a teenager and his patient.
   Their three sons were the victims of an upbringing which consisted of basically Susan, who - for example - encouraged her children not to attend school as, in her own mind, no one was really competent to care for or teach her children except herself.
   And then there was Susan. Susan is shown to be a cultured, literate, and extremely intelligent woman who was also manipulative, vindictive, socially strange, in many ways unpleasant, and increasingly paranoid and delusional. If Felix provided the financial support - Susan never worked -Susan was, in an interesting role reversal, the family's psychological leader - the one who set the tone of the family's life - while Felix pretty much went along with whatever her agenda was at any given time and while the boys, whom Susan totally loved, were raised in an environment which was, like Susan, askew like a mildly distorting fun house mirror.
   
   The last half of the book recounts the most bizarre trial you will ever read about, pitting DA Paul Sequeira against Susan Polk who was not a lawyer but chose, since she was convinced no one was smarter than she was, to defend herself. I generally feel that, with occasional exceptions, trial segments of true crime books are among the most boring. However the trial is one of the major components in the Susan Polk saga. Many of the true crime writing mediocrity, the rush to printers, would write this section by, for all intents and purposes, copying the trial transcript. I am happy to report that Pogash does not do this. It is in this case mandatory to provide the reader with a detailed account of the trial while being a writer rather than a copier, and Pogash handles it beautifully.
   
   Carol Pogash clearly set out to write an outstanding book, and she has succeeded. The research is exhaustive and impeccable, the writing is crisp and intelligent, and the tone and feel of the book are adult and literate. There are no false steps, no insertion of the author's asides and comments (an increasingly unfortunate occurence among the hacks who litter the true crime landscape) and no filler.
   
   You won't find true crime better than SEDUCED BY MADNESS. I recommend it unreservedly.



3. This story illustrates the old axiom that truth is stranger than fiction. The fascinating tale has so many bizarre twists and turns that one cannot help but be transfixed. Susan Polk begins seeing her therapist at age 15, marries the much older man a few years later, and a quarter of a century later stabs him 27 times, leaving him in a pool of blood in the pool house of the family's luxurious estate.
   
   In between these bookends, journalist Carol Pogash tells the story of Susan Polk's deepening personal madness embedded in the cultural madness of the psychotherapy world of the 1960s and 1970s in Berkeley, where therapist-patient sex was tolerated, psychodrama and EST were treatments du jour, and cocaine use was rampant. The Polks even crusaded against mythical Satanic ritual abusers, claiming that their eldest son Adam had been kidnapped, raped, and made into a multiple personality. And if all that isn't enough, we've got exorcisms, psychics, and repressed memory claims.
   
   Pogash's rendition of the four-month trial is a riveting page-turner. Susan Polk fired attorney after attorney and ended up representing herself. On center stage, the intelligent but delusional defendant demonstrated a stunning ability to "take any set of facts and mold a story where she was both victim and hero." It is painful to read about her brutal cross-examination of two of her three sons. Pogash chronicles the Freudian slips that give glimpses into her pathology, as she called her dead husband her father and her favored middle son her husband.
   
   I am intrigued to ponder how Ms. Polk's trial outcome might have been different if it came after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling of June 19, 2008, in Illinois v. Edwards. Now, a mentally ill defendant may be barred from representing herself if she is delusional to the point that she is unable to effectively represent her best interests. (For my report on the Edwards case, type shurl.org/insane into your browser's address bar.) Perhaps that will be grounds for appeal of her second-degree murder conviction?
   
   From the point of view of a forensic psychologist, I especially appreciated the depictions of the expert testimony. We had the cagey forensic pathologist who disappeared in the middle of the trial when the judge insisted he produce his files, and the seasoned psychologist who testified for the defense, based mainly on what Ms. Polk had told her and without benefit of any formal psychological testing, that the defendant was a battered woman who suffered from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.
   
   I thought Pogash remained remarkably balanced and fair in her reporting, especially as compared to many pundits who flock to the true-crime genre. Being personally acquainted with upwards of a dozen of the participants whom she included in her account, I can say that by and large she portrayed them accurately and fairly.
   
   Seduced by Madness is a riveting page-turner, a fascinating history, and a balanced portrayal of a high-profile trial that shined a spotlight on one family's dark pathos. I recommend it.



4. Every so often in the true crime genre author and subject come together in an almost fated way to produce a book that illuminates not only the crime but the times that produced it. McGinniss's Blind Faith, Stumbo's Until the Twelfth of Never, Alexander's Very Much a Lady and Rule's The Stranger Beside Me are among the select few and now they are joined by Carol Pogash's Seduced by Madness. This is a fine, almost ridiculously readable book by any standard.
   
   The Polk murder case was true crime fodder even before the lead defense attorney's wife was murdered just before trial. Susan Polk was accused of murdering her husband, Felix, during a drawn out divorce and custody battle. Susan claimed she killed him in self-defense and revealed that Felix had been her therapist from the time she was 16. With those ingredients it's no wonder that everyone from Court TV to People were hot on this case. Then add the fact that Susan Polk clearly attended the Betty Broderick School of Tell Your Side of the Story to Any Journalist Who Will Listen. Susan is a stranger to both modesty and discretion - she's also undeniably brilliant and, sadly, delusional.
   
   And there lies the brilliance of Pogash's book: instead of simply recording the salacious details (and there are plenty), she digs deeper, delving into the many fads and nuances of therapy-happy California in the 1970s and 1980s. From Est to the Satanic Ritual Abuse hysteria and everything else along the way, the Polks seem to have been part of it all. Certainly Felix Polk's sense of therapeutic boundaries were a little lax, marriage to one former patient, long-term friendships with current patients. All this would be merely odd (and almost a parody of what an East Coaster thinks goes on in California) except for the fact that Susan Polk needed psychiatric help. Maybe Felix saw himself living out Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night with him heroically saving his Nicole (Susan) by marrying her. Maybe Felix didn't realize how ill Susan really was. More often than not Felix either humored or fed Susan's minor delusions until the day Susan, inevitably, turned on him. Pogash does a fine job of showing the reader Susan Polk's charisma, we get glimpses that help us understand her incredible influence over her husband and children.
   
   The trial coverage here is nothing short of spectacular. These are the looniest court proceedings since a Florida serial killer sang to his journalist groupie girlfriend on the stand. That was 5 minutes, this went on for weeks. Expert witnesses who appear guiltier than the defendant, a defendant more concerned with being "right" than being found not guilty and the unbearable tragedy of a mother cross-examining her son who is testifying against her all add up to trial you'll never forget.
   
   This is a fantastic book. For the True Crime genre fan, this is pure ambrosia. For general readers this is an absorbing read. For all, this is a book that will deepen your understanding of the way we live now.



5. The Susan Polk has garnered a lot more attention simply because the defendant and convicted murderer, Susan Polk, is quite a complicated human being. She is definitely troubled and her relationship with a man who was first a father figure and later her lover turned husband and father of their three sons would be his victim. He was as obsessed and in love with Susan first as a patient and later as a wife. This book really explores their complicated relationship under the circumstances. Until now, I never thought much about the Polk case and as to why it got so much interest. Unfortunately, the great Dr. Felix Polk and his relationship with young Susan was doomed from the start. It was destined for failure. It was not that easy to end the relationship. Clearly, Susan is delusional and suffers from mental illness. Her behavior was never properly treated and she believed that everybody especially Felix was against her. What was the driving point might have been that Felix was supposedly taking over the dominant parental role in the family and pushing Susan aside. Of course, that was never the case but in Susan's delusional and obviously sick mind, she believed that Felix was setting the world against her especially by reaching to their sons. Unfortunately, the family has suffered a tragedy and this book is excellent in explaining in details about the case. While Carol Pogash is not a well-known true crime writer, she has done far more than the other author that I read about this case.

5 comments about Base Instincts: What Makes Killers Kill?.

1. This is a well written, well researched book that should be required reading for all professionals involved with adults and children who exhibit anti-social behaviour. It will be invaluable to educators, psychologists, attorneys, police officers,psychiatrists and more. Why wouldn't anyone who can do so not want to be aware of new findings that could lead to identifying, intercepting and possibly changing the course of a future serial killing or classroom tragedy? Take the time to read the book. It's worth it.



2. The point of this fairly slim volume is to convince the reader that many (perhaps the vast majority) of our most dangerous criminals have neurologic impairments, and that brain dysfunction, along with child abuse and paranoid thinking, is at the heart of much violent behavior. This is not an entirely new message, but it is one Pincus approaches with a great deal of authority -- he's a professor of Neurology at Georgetown, was formerly at Yale and has studied dozens of death row prisoners along with his colleague Dorothy Ortnow Lewis.

   Dr. Pincus clearly decided not to risk alienating readers with scientific terminology or complex explanations of brain physiology. The book follows the familiar "casebook" true crime format used by various ex-FBI profilers, coroners, and cops. Most chapters focus on a particular criminal Pincus had dealings with (many of them in his role as an expert witness) and what that criminal's life story shows about the origins of homicidal violence.

   The coversational writing style (and oddly cheery alliterative chapter titles) stand in contrast to the horrific nature of much of the material. The crime scene details will be familiar to any reasonably hardened reader in the literature. What really stood out for me was the descriptions of childhood abuse endured by many of the perpetrators Pincus has studied. As a former inner-city teacher, I taught kids from pretty screwed up homes, and had some friends from abusive families while growing up. But the stories Pincus recounts (corroborated by siblings and others) remind us that there is almost no downward limit to the depths of human depravity.

   What's rather odd about all the better works in the study of violence and homicide is the sense that this field is under-funded, under-appreciated and obscure. Pincus and other pioneers in the field have answered some important questions, but their work raises hundreds more. If, say one percent of the money our government has spent trying to prove that marijuana is dangerous were instead spent on studying the roots of violence, perhaps we'd have more answers.




3. "Base Instincts: What Makes Killers Kill?" by Jonathan H. Pincus, MD, ISBN 0-393-32323-4 pbk, Norton & Co. 2001: a 225 page disquisition plus 13 pages of notes by a NYU Professor of neurology & psychiatry and graduate of Columbina CPS who investigated some 150 murderers over a 25-year period and tenders his unified theory that "killers kill for the same reasons," regardless of their classifications (single, mass, serial, & perhaps genocidal).

   Pincus observed that killing arises in the milieu and troika of disturbances which generally discloses (1) childhood abuses (sexual, verbal, physical), (2) frontal lobe damage (birth trauma, chromosomal, genic, infectious, toxic as alcohol & drugs), and (3) a medley of mental (neuro-psychiatric) impairments e.g. bipolar depresssion, paranoia, ADHD, CD, ODD, etc. He hypothesizes that single, mass, and serial killings have similarities with the Nazi/Hitler's paranoid anti-Semitism, Gaza Strip atrocities and various terrorist factions of more recent vintage.

   He opines the only feasible remedy would be prevention of child abuse and cites pilot studies underway, and also specifies factors impeding implementation of other remedies including treatment of convicted murderers. He details his basic neurologic testing format including specific tests directed at eliciting impairment of the frontal lobes, the latter being somnething he states most/many neurological examiners fail to do. Dr. Pincus has worked successfully on a number of defense cases aimed at getting death sentences switched to life without parole.

   The treatise is not overly technical, the writing style is a bit wordy, and very minor detractions were noted (i.e. XYY in not a chromosomal deficit but a chromosomal excess or defect; Trisomy 21 is no longer referred to as mongolism but Down's syndrome; and this reader is skeptical that someone could & would drink a 12-pack of beer and a pint of whiskey in 45 minutes (one can every 3.75 minutes & not counting the hard liquor).

   This study is an important contribution to the study of homicide and it provides engaging thought-provoking commentary on what makes murderers murder and also a workable solution to the problem of homocides. This book gives ample graphic grisly details of physical & sexual abuse, sans pictures, which some readers will find disturbing, but so then is murder. This is a must read.




4. I just finished "Base Instincts: What Makes Killers Kill" and I am adamant that our society shows so much more monetary respect for crime and punishment than early childhood education. We have had recent headlines about men, here in Austin, spiking babies and toddlers like footballs after a touchdown, in anger, killing or maiming them and ending up in prison for life. While this outrage is profoundly disturbing, professionals dither at whether or not early childcare intervention is ethical, cost effective or necessary in our society. Paying attention to parenting of the young child uplifts not just that family, but our societies future well being. Child abuse is the single most important determinant of future violence, and it is endemic and epidemic in our frontier based national mind set. We need to launch an all out campaign to raise the national consciousness about the importance of the nurturance of women, and the children that they in turn nurture, in the first three years of life, and beyond.



5. Pincus weave a fascinating, true tale of what makes killers tick in this 2001 book. Pincus himself interviewed hundreds of killers during his career as a neurologist. He combines his knowledge of the human body and psyche to draw his own conclusion about why people kill. Whether or not you buy into his theory, Pincus offers a solid case in a well-written, slim book that is an excellent, quick reference for fiction crime writers.
   Angela Wilson
   Author

5 comments about Thinning the Herd: Tales of the Weirdly Departed.

1. I picked up this book and laughed from page one all the way through the end. If you think the Darwin Awards are funny, you'll love this!



2. I couldn't believe that the first thing I quoted from this book was proven wrong.
   
   The book claims "General John Sedgwick, Union commander, was killed in battle during the U.S. Civil War. His last words were, 'They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist---'"
   
   At the Sedgwick Genealogy web site, it states: As the bullets whistled by, some of the men dodged. The general said laughingly, "What! what! men, dodging this way for single bullets! What will you do when they open fire along the whole line? I am ashamed of you. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." A few seconds after, a man who had been separated from his regiment passed directly in front of the general, and at the same moment a sharp-shooter's bullet passed with a long shrill whistle very close, and the soldier, who was then just in front of the general, dodged to the ground. The general touched him gently with his foot, and said, "Why, my man, I am ashamed of you, dodging that way," and repeated the remark "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." The man rose and saluted, and said good-naturedly, "General, I dodged a shell once, and if I hadn't, it would have taken my head off. I believe in dodging." The general laughed and replied, ``All right, my man; go to your place." For a third time the same shrill whistle, closing with a dull, heavy stroke, interrupted our talk when as I was about to resume, the general's face turned slowly to ice, the blood spurting from his left cheek under the eye in a steady stream. He fell in my direction ; I was so close to him that my effort to support him failed, and I fell with him."
   
   As this is apparently not the only incorrect "fact" in this book, it is obvious that Cynthia Ceilan did very little research in producing this piece of ... uh ... misinformation.
   



3. This is an excellent and well researched book that covers a topic that is somewhat morbid but Ceilan brings a lively wit to the table. If you are going to go out in a weird and strange manner you would want her to hail your spirit off this mortal coil. A great, lively, and excellent read!



4. I loved this book! It was actually morbidly funny. I loved it so much that I passed it on to my mother-in-law who loved it too...



5. I got this book from the library, and I hope to buy it soon. I loved it! I read it from cover to cover, often reading out loud to my husband and mother-in-law. Each story is wittily written, and it makes me a little more comfortable about a dark and foreboding subject. And if you ever want to convince someone that suicide is not the answer tell them to read this book. I've already got a number of people lined up to check it out once I take it back.

5 comments about The Yosemite Murders (True Crime (New York, N.Y.).).

1. McDougal digs deep into the heart with his descriptions of the gruesome murders. The beginning of the book fools you into thinking that McDougal will keep descriptions light, while covering all the necessities. However, as you read farther you find insignificant details. While some may find it helpful to know the full background of Cary Stayner's childhood, I failed to make a connection between what the kidnapping of his younger brother had to do with the murders the elder Stayner child committed. It seems as though each time McDougal introduced a new character, an in depth background was required. I feel as though the writer was merely trying to make his book appear longer by adding pointless details. The details did come in handy, however, when he described the murders. Over all I enjoyed the book, but found it tedious. I found myself skipping parts of each characters background in an effort to find the "good" part of the book. I doubt I will choose to read another True Crime book by Mr. McDougal.



2. I used to live 2 doors down from the Stayner family when they lived in Atwater, California. WOW. Del and Kay were very nice people, pretty much kept to themselves. I lived there when Steven was killed, it was SO SAD.
   I found the book to be quite interesting since I lived in that area. It is just too crazy to me that someone could commit such horrific crimes. My heart goes out to the victims, their families, and Cary's family. Senseless murder is just something I will never understand. I don't normally read crime stories, but read this one because of who it was about...... I will be following the trial in the newspaper.



3. While This Book Is well wrote,I feel that it consentrated more on the the FBI,and inside the lives of each victim rather then the actual murders themselves.probably 4 chapters out of the entire book focused on cary stayner and the yosemite murders.The rest of it is full of eulogies and talks about the victims families. It just did'nt focus on the crime enough for me.Not exactly a good read if your looking on the subject at hand.



4. Dennis McDougal has not done his homework on this one. This book came out too soon, and all the facts were not known at that time.



5. I find this book an incredible model of premier investigative reporting. How Dennis can write so well without personally knowing his subject I'll never know. I enjoy a well-written novel also, but combining these existing facts with well-crafted writing is genius. This book informs whatever the reader may have heard or read before, bringing to life an individual's aberrent world. The author's comprehension of the antisocial mind is brilliant.

5 comments about The Fatal Bullet: The True Account of the Assassination, Lingering Pain, Death, and Burial of James A. Garfield, Twentieth President of the United States ... of Victorian Murder (Graphic Novels)).

1. This entry in Rick Geary's series on Victorian murders examines the assassination of President James Garfield by Charles J. Guiteau, a megalomaniacal failure at preaching, the law, and almost everything else he had tried. The drawings are evocative of the time and place, and give a clear idea of the events. The lives of Garfield and Guiteau are traced, and Guiteau's mental illness is made quite clear; today, he would almost certainly be sharing a room with John Hinckley. I'd like to see this whole series reprinted: one of them is out of print and apparently unavailable.



2. As a history buff, and a fan of Rick Geary's, I knew I'd enjoy this book, but I had no idea how much! The book tells the paralell stories of President James A. Garfield and his stalker (and eventual assassin) Charles Giteau, an abysmal failure in every aspect of life; indeed, his ONLY success in life was the murder of President Garfield, and he almost botched that up, too. Garfield lingered for months after the attack, dying perhaps more as a result of medical incompetence than Giteau's efforts.
   Geary's wonderfully cartoony art is reminiscent of claymation; it gives a true illusion of depth and form. He is truly one of the underrated geniuses of the Comic art form. His meticulous research gives us many interesting facts, such as The President being allowed to walk around Washington D.C. unescorted (No Secret Service yet), Abraham Lincoln's son's association with Garfield, and too many others to count. Do yourself a favor- read the book!!



3. When I ordered this book, I thought it was a short textual history of the assasination of President James Garfield. It turns out that this book is in comic book format with the story being told by dialogue and cartoon illustrations. However, I really enjoyed the book and learned a lot about Garfield, his assasin, Charles Guiteau, and Garfield's slow death.

   Guiteau was basically a loser in life and had even served time in jail. He was constantly skipping out on creditors and and he showed signs of mental illness. He was dillusional and thought that Garfield would apppoint him to an ambassadorship. He literally stalked both Garfield and Secretary of State Blaine in an attempt to secure the appointment. When it was not forthcoming, he stalked Garfield (this was in the days before the secret service) until he had the opportunity to shoot the President.

   The wound caused a rupture in an artery but an aneurism sealed off the opening so he did not bleed to death. Garfield lingered for many weeks until the aneurism ultimately ruptured and Garfield died. The location of the bullet had not been located and the aneurism had gone untreated. Today, Garfield's condition would have almost certainly been diagnosed through an MRI and he may have survived delicate surgery which would have saved his life.

   In reading history, we generally get a line or two about Garfield being assasinated by a "disappointed office seeker." It was enjoyable to learn more about this event, particularly in such an unusual literary format.




4. I'm a fan of this series. There are good entries and less good entries. I discovered them with the Jack the Ripper volume which I like to read at night before bedtime. There are two aspects of that book I wish Geary would return to. The first is that the crime is scandalous and unsolved (as is the Borden case), the second is that none of the victims was a president!
   
   This is really not about juicy, low Victorian murders which I would think is the appeal of a series with that title. Once a president is involved you're into assasinations, which to my mind are a different thing. Curling up with a book about an assasination in which the killer is known & villified for his failings, the victim lingers, and in which all the answers are found before you're done just doesn't hold the same appeal.
   
   People who are seeking history seem to like the book.



5. Rick Geary's new book "The Fatal Bullet..." explores an important event in American history in an unusual yet effective manner.
   
   To summarize: the nation, which in recent times had dealt with the horrors of President Lincoln's assassination was once again shaken to its core the summer of 1881. On Saturday, July 2 in the near empty waiting room of a train depot, the twentieth U.S. President, Republican James Abraham Garfield was shot in the back. It would take a grueling two months before the President would succumb to his injury.
   
   The assassin, one Charles Guiteau was quickly apprehended. He announced that he bore no ill-will toward the President but that his death was a "political necessity." During his trial Guiteau defended himself proclaiming to be an agent of deity. He would go on to state that the President's physicians should bear the burden of his death. He reasoned this because of the fact that they had decided the wound the President had suffered was not, in fact fatal and that he would soon recover. Guiteau was convicted of the assassination by a jury and was executed by hanging on June 30, 1882.
   
   What sets Geary's book apart from other historical works is that it was written in a graphic novel. With illustration reminiscent of a comic book, Geary's book sets out to explore the Garfield assassination as well as to take a closer look at the events leading up to this significant point in the two men's lives.
   
   Geary examines certain similarities in both lives. Some of these included are in regards to their home regions, the fact that both were the youngest in their family, both considered clergy as a career and that both were drawn to the law and politics.
   
   Robert Frost wrote of two roads that diverged in the wood. This would certainly be applicable to the life paths taken by Garfield and Guiteau. While their lives bore some resemblances they each took different paths. Garfield had a "happy prosperous life" with a strong marriage and a "reputation for honesty, loyalty and fair dealing." Guiteau, on the other hand, took the "downward path" with a bitter and brief marriage and a reputation as a "cheat, charltan and hum-bug."
   
   Geary's book is very interesting and unique. To take a piece of history put it in comic form and stay true to the serious nature of the event is quite the feat. This book will appeal to those young adults and teens who may otherwise have little or no interest in history. Teachers would do well to include this book in their curriculum.