Deconstructing Jack: The Secret History of the Whitechapel Murders

by Simon Daryl Wood

Will Jack the Ripper ever be identified?

The answer is an emphatic "No."

But not because he was a quasi-supernatural entity with an ability to perform lightning-fast kerb-side surgery whilst running split-second rings around two London police forces.

Jack the Ripper did not exist - except within the minds of his creators and those who for one reason or another have attempted for over one hundred years to turn the myth into a reality.

Deconstructing Jack: The Secret History of the Whitechapel Murders casts a sceptical eye over the continuous stream of lies, invention, misinformation, self-publicity and opportunism which has kept this Victorian bogeyman alive in the darkest reaches of our 21st Century imaginations.

Can history ever bring itself to shrug off almost 130 years of dogma and cherished beliefs, and at last smile ruefully at having been suckered in probably the greatest shell game of all time? Or will this heretical challenge to orthodoxy be peremptorily dismissed as revisionist nonsense, thus allowing the time-old parlour game of Pin the Tail on the Ripper to continue ad infinitum?

Genres: True Crime, Crime, Nonfiction

Unknown Binding

First published March 5, 2015

About the author

Simon Daryl Wood was born in England, and is now a resident of southern California. He is primarily a writer of non-fiction history, with a number of articles about the 1888 Whitechapel murders published in specialist journals, and has also written "Fairy Story," a fantasy adventure for children and grown-ups inspired by recent events on Wall Street and the ensuing culture of greed which appears to be characterizing the 21st Century. He is currently working on a book about the 1549 Prayer Book Rebellion in the west of England. Simon can be reached at simondwoodcontact@gmail.com

Reviews

[Paul Stansfield · Rating 1 out of 5]

I enjoy true crime books, and clearly Jack the Ripper is one of the most interesting topics in that genre. And I was intrigued by the point of the book, about how the case was nothing like the way it was presented in history. Alas, I really disliked Wood's writing style. It was dense, sometimes confusing, and very tedious. I gave up after about 80 pages. Maybe I would even agree with some of the author's opinions, but it was presented in a way that I just couldn't get through.

[Rex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolute masterpiece. Simon Darryl Wood has managed to write a stunning interesting and informative book

With this book in my hands I actually became doubts to if Jack the Ripper was a hoax

The book is well-written and gives the readers so many facts its just amazing

Defiantly one of my favorite books

[A.J. Griffiths-Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

A refreshingly new look at the Whitechapel murders of 1888, I found this book impeccably researched and packed with essential information surrounding the case. From political unrest to newspaper reports, this wonderfully in-depth guide does exactly what it says, 'deconstructing' the events to leave you wondering if 'Jack the Ripper' existed at all.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found Deconstructing Jack absolutely gripping. The author exploded all the Ripper theories and challenged the trustworthiness of various top ranking police officials. Fascinating!

[Andrea Pryke · Rating 5 out of 5]

amazing investigation into the media hype surrounding the murders attributed to Jack a must