True Crime: An American Anthology

by Harold Schechter

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.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, History, Journalism, Anthologies, Essays

788 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Aka Jon A. Harrald (joint pseudonym with Jonna Gormley Semeiks)

Harold Schechter is a true crime writer who specializes in serial killers. He attended the State University of New York in Buffalo, where he obtained a Ph.D. A resident of New York City, Schechter is professor of American literature and popular culture at Queens College of the City University of New York.

Among his nonfiction works are the historical true-crime classics Fatal, Fiend, Deviant, Deranged, and Depraved. He also authors a critically acclaimed mystery series featuring Edgar Allan Poe, which includes The Hum Bug and Nevermore and The Mask of Red Death.

Schechter is married to poet Kimiko Hahn. He has two daughters from a previous marriage: the writer Lauren Oliver and professor of philosophy Elizabeth Schechter.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

“There is nothing new about this particular craving [for true crime]. That the strangulation of a six-year-old who competed in child pageants, or the disappearance of a vacationing co-ed, or the slaying of a pregnant California housewife can preoccupy the American news media for weeks on end – supplanting events of more obvious global significance – is often taken as a dispiriting sign of the debased sensibilities of our sensation-steeped culture. Yet the appetite for tales of real-life murder, the more horrific the better, has been a perennial feature of human society…”
- Harold Schechter (editor), True Crime: An American Anthology

True crime is a national obsession. You cannot escape it. There are movies, miniseries, television shows, multipart documentaries, books, articles, blog posts, and podcasts. So, so many podcasts. The true crime bubble is bound to burst at some point – there are only so many hours in the day to listen to Serial knockoffs – but even then, the obsession will continue.

After all, it’s been going on for centuries.

For the proof, you need look only to True Crime, a collection of crime writing that – according to editor Harold Schechter – covers three hundred and fifty years. That’s a pretty ambitious span, an epic swath of time filled with innumerable instances of humans being the absolute worst.

To make things a bit more manageable, Schechter mostly confines these crime stories to murders. He has also gathered an all-star group of contributors, including Ambrose Bierce, Theodore Dreiser, Jack Webb, Gay Talese, James Ellroy, Ann Rule, Dominick Dunne, and Truman Capote.

Over the course of nearly eight-hundred pages – with fifty separate chapters – True Crime is a truly dispiriting journey into the realm of misery, desperation, short-term thinking, rage, and evil.

***

Given my own peculiar nature, I read this all the way through, from cover to cover. This might not be the best approach, because it eventually becomes both soul-crushing and tedious.

Alas, it’s too late to undo that mistake, and if I could go back in time, I’d probably use that power to prevent some crimes, rather than rereading this. Suffice to say, if you pick this up, you might want to be selective, just picking and choosing. Or you might want to take a few breaks while reading this, to spend a few hours with a book that isn’t filled with angry men unable to constructively channel their fury.

***

The fifty stories here are ordered by chronology. The first story comes from William Bradford, a pilgrim not known for his crime journalism, while the last one is from Dominick Dunne, a master of the genre. Each chapter begins with a brief editor’s note, introducing us to author, crime, and original place of publication.

Many of the stories are newspaper articles. Some are excerpted from longer works. Certain selections appear only for their status as historical artifacts. For instance, Schechter includes a piece written by famous Puritan scold Cotton Mather, who – when not churning out captivity narratives – apparently had a deep concern for men taking sexual liberties with their livestock:

[T]his Diabolical Creature, had Lived in most infandous Buggeries for no less than Fifty years together; and now at the Gallows, there were killed before his Eyes, a Cow, Two Heifers, Three Sheep, and Two Sowes, with all of which he had Committed his Brutalities. His Wife had seen him Confounding himself with a Bitch, Ten years before...

If you had trouble reading that, I assure you, it is an exact transcription of Mather’s “Confounding” of the English language. Perhaps it’s best not to understand what’s going on, as Mather’s description of the punishment meted out seems entirely unfair to both man and beast.

***

Anthologies are always going to be hit-and-miss. It’s almost part of the definition. Due to the different periods and publications for which these stories were originally written, and to the varying authorial styles, there is an ingrained inconsistency.

Some of these entries – like the ones by Bradford and Mather – are nowhere near the modern understanding of “true crime.” They’re lectures on morality. Meanwhile, Calvin Trillin’s piece on Manson isn't even about Manson. It’s about the guy who owned the ranch where Manson once lived. Depending on your mood, the idiosyncratic selections can shake things up, or leave you wondering at the point.

Even when the stories fit better, I was left vaguely unimpressed with the choices Schechter made. For instance, Damon Runyan's piece on the Snyder-Gray trial went on forever. It showed little more than Runyan’s casual misogyny: “[Snyder] is not bad looking. I have seen much worse. She is about thirty-three and looks just about that, though you cannot tell much about blondes.”

***

So far, it’s been complaints. But there’s some really good stuff, too. In my opinion, the best stories were written by women. Generally, these were more empathetic, while those of the men – such as Runyan, honing the style that would inspire film noir masterpieces like Double Indemnity – can demonstrate a glibness bordering on heartless. Celia Thaxter’s A Memorable Murder does an incredible job of capturing the cold and desolation of life (and death) on the Isle of Shoals, a rocky island off the coast of New Hampshire. I also enjoyed Dorothy Kilgallen's Sex and the All-American Boy, which insightfully draws a connection between our Cotton Mather-inspired views on sex outside of marriage and the murder of young pregnant girls by their boyfriends.

He was afraid. He was afraid to talk to any of those who might have helped him. That was what has struck me so forcibly about Bobby's puny, misspent young life. He was afraid to confide in anyone whose mature advice and counsel might have shown him a bit of daylight on the road ahead. He was afraid of society – afraid and ashamed. And out of his fear and his shame and his cowardice, he gambled away Freda's life and his own. You might almost say it was society who handed him the dice and urged him to throw.

Other highlights include Myer Berger's account of a WWII vet who went on a killing spree in Camden, New Jersey, killing 12; W.T. Brannon's account of Richard Spector's massacre, titled Eight Girls, All Pretty, All Nurses, All Slain; and James Ellroy’s unflinchingly honest, introspective account of his own mother's murder.

Then there’s John Bartlow Martin’s Butcher's Dozens:

Captain Van Buren muses, “You know, I still keep hoping I'll meet that man someday, the torso murderer.” Outside a red fuse flickers fitfully by the rails where an engine is switching, and in the distance the sky glows dully with the lights around Public Square. A Rapid Transit train rattles and rolls, leaning on the curve, its windows a streak against the black cliffs; and for an instant its headlight sweeps the foot of Jackass Hill. But only for an instant: the blackness closes in, the night...is impenetrable as ever.

This is my conception of “classic true crime.” A dogged police officer, vowing to keep going. An industrial setting filled with mechanical clangs, to remind us of the depersonalization of society. The on-the-nose symbolism. A place called Jackass Hill.

Just perfect.

***

The best story, though – and worth the price of the book – is Truman Capote's interview with Manson henchman Robert Beausoleil, titled Then It All Came Down. It’s pretty much a transcript of their interview, which is dominated by Capote talking about himself. Leave it to Truman to make everything – even another man’s heinous transgressions of the law – about himself. Having read this, I am shocked that he was able to deliver In Cold Blood without revealing his hidden hand.

***

True Crime was published in 2008, and its latest story is from 1990. The result is that the last thirty years are entirely unrepresented. And there’s been a lot of true crime written in the interim. It would’ve been nice if Schechter had found some more modern entries, so that the reader could see how things have changed. These days – unlike the stories found here – true crime is either about solving a mystery, or arguing that a mystery has been solved incorrectly.

***

America’s appetite for true crime seems insatiable. Frankly, there was a time I couldn’t get enough, even when I was working as a public defender, and crime was my day job. Having read this straight through, however, my appetite is sated, at least for a good long while.

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whew! “350 years of brilliant writing...” more like “took 350 years to finish reading!” Small print...lots of pages...lots of good writing, though. It probably would be a good idea to mix in some lighter reading while delving into this tome as it is very lengthy “murder porn” which can be nightmare-inducing. Don’t get me wrong, I regularly binge-watch the Investigation Discovery channel until I convince myself that everyone is trying to kill me. This book will convince you, too. Enjoy!

[John Hood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bound Oct. 9, 2008, Miami Sun Post
http://miamisunpost.com/archives/2008...


Cold Hard Crime

By John Hood

Americans dig their crime. And why shouldn’t we? We’re the most crime-committing nation on the planet. Hell, if I didn’t know any better (and I generally don’t), I’d say we commit crimes just for the fun of it. We certainly commit ’em outta spite. Outta spite is outta crime.

Since we dig committing crimes so much, mad reason would indicate that we’d also dig reading all about it, from the depths to the heights and beyond. Which would kinda make editor Harold Schechter’s mammoth True Crime: An American Anthology (Library of America $40) a book after our cold hard hearts now, wouldn’t it?

Of course it would. But to call True Crime a mere book is like calling Hearst Castle a simple house. It is that massive. Actually, at nearly 800 pages, Schechter’s killer collection might better be called a doorstop — for a walk-in vault. But you sure as hell wouldn’t wanna use it as such, because then you’d miss out on all the wildness within its ever-liberating confines.

And “wild” barely even begins to describe the utter insanity contained herein, which begins with the Pilgrims (William Bradford’s The Hanging of John Billington) and ends with the Menendez brothers’ shotgun murder of their very own parents (Dominick Dunne’s Nightmare on Elm Drive).

In between, the book is a beast, and it’s teeming with the beastliest deeds ever chronicled by some of the best chroniclers ever to put ink to parchment, from the historical (Cotton Mather, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln) to the hysterical (W.T. Brannon), and the classic of old (Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain) and not so old (Alexander Woollcott, Theodore Dreiser). There’s fist-bricked newspaper columnists (Damon Runyon, Jimmy Breslin, H.L. Mencken), one of their most brawl-bearing magazine counterparts (A.J. Leibling), and a gentleman storyteller who bridged both worlds and came up unbeatable (Joseph Mitchell).

And there are women here, among them Susan Glaspell (The Hossack Murder), Zora Neale Hurston (The Trial of Ruby McCollum), Elizabeth Hardwick (The Life and Death of Caryl Chessman), and Miriam Allen deFord (Superman’s Crime: Loeb and Leopold).

Most infamously, perhaps, are the scribes whose crime-writing would go on to make them famous on screens big and small. Men like Herbert Asbury (The Gangs of New York), Jim The Grifters Thompson (Ditch of Doom), Jack Dragnet Webb (The Black Dahlia), Truman In Cold Blood Capote (Then It All Came Down), and James L.A. Confidential Ellroy (My Mother’s Killer).

But by far the most representative writer included in this crime Bible is one Jay Robert Nash (The Turner-Stompanato Killing: A Family Affair), the cat whose more than 70 works are fervent attempts to capture each and every criminal America’s ever produced and put them between covers. Then again, what do you expect from a scribe whose spillful, spiteful Bloodletters and Badmen subs out with: A Who's Who of Vile Men (and Women) Wanted For Every Crime in the Book?

You want crime? True Crime’s got it. And then some. Just so long as you’re not afraid to do the time.

[Brenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

We politely call it sang froid - that inscrutible quality held by the most criminally-minded deviants in society, both past and modern. And yet, those fixated on the horrendous crimes commited thereby are not associated with having cold blood running through their veins. How can this be possible?

Editor Harold Schechter directs the reader, in his introduction, to Plato for an answer to the question: "The virtuous man is content to dream what a wicked man really does." To paraphrase, it is in the unrealized impulse which differentiates the perverse from the pious.

And with this slice of philosophy opens True Crime: An American Anthology.

Rather than providing the reader with case after case of gruesome details on murders, assassinations, and crimes turned ugly, this tome presents some of the best examples of the true crime genre (for a genre is truly what it has been for over 350 years) written since the Colonists first set foot upon North American soil. Arranged chronologically by date of first publication, each of the tales reprinted in this anthology have a single defining principle over the majority of true crime fare disseminated for public consumption - the detailed focus on literary merit.

While the book does tend to rely heavily upon marquee value with such authors as one might expect (Truman Capote, James Ellroy, Ann Rule, et al.) on such subjects (Charles Manson, Eric and Lyle Menendez, Ruth Snyder, etc.), there is also a number of articles written by anonymous 18th and 19th Century sources, and many more written about virtually unknown (or nearly forgotten about) cases over the past few centuries. An Illinois lawyer named Abraham Lincoln details a bizarre case of "murder" that very few Americans will likely have heard about. A string of American poets write unique Murder Ballads based on events (either real or somewhat imaginary) which had happened in the criminal history of their country. And a host of many others weigh in with their stories, the impartial and the ecclesiastical alike, of fascinating murders, trials, investigations, or gangland activities of not-so-bygone times.

This is not a collection of cheap pulp stories in a fancy binding. It is, in fact, an important monument to an American literary heritage too often exploited by hacks or dullards looking to "cash in" on somebody else's norotiety.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting anthology with a plethora of different authors. Most were very interesting. I skipped over a few of the entries but for the most part I really enjoyed reading the entries that were written in the same time frame as the crimes. Perspective can be everything.

[Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

The true crime story has always been an integral part of oral and written history. Pirates, highwaymen, and political rebels were immortalized in ballads. Thousands assembled for non-Christian reasons to hear Puritan execution sermons (and see the hangings that followed). When crime became commercialized via the penny press, the reading public devoured stories about the axe murder of prostitute Helen Jewett in 1836 or the 1833 trial of Reverend Ephraim Avery for the death of his pregnant factory girl mistress. In 1875, Celia Thaxter published an essay about a local mass murder called ‘A Memorable Murder’: this nonfiction account told in story form foretold the works of Truman Capote, who described his bestseller “In Cold Blood” as a “nonfiction novel”. If anyone did something heinous between 1880 and 1930 and stood trial for it, theirs was usually touted in the press as the ‘Crime of the Century’: think Lizzie Borden or Leopold and Loeb.

True Crime: An American Anthology is a series of faithfully reproduced stories, articles and essays that reveal how American crime reporting and writing has changed over the centuries. Cotton Mather’s ‘Pillars of Salt’ is an extended religious tract, while Damon Runyon’s ‘The Eternal Blonde’, written while covering the 1927 murder trial of Ruth Snyder and Judd Gray, is as superficial and flippant as the era. Truman Capote’s ‘And It All Came Down’ is a jailhouse interview with Manson family member Bobby Beausoleil that yields some unsettling clues into the mind of a convicted killer. (Beausoleil says, “Good or bad? It’s ALL good. If it happens, it’s got to be good. Otherwise it wouldn’t be happening.”)

My personal favorite was Theodore Dreiser’s commentary on the 1934 trial of 23 year old Robert Allen Edwards for the drowning murder of his pregnant girlfriend. The circumstances of the girl’s death mirrored the storyline of Dreiser’s 1925 masterpiece An American Tragedy, so the New York Post sent him to cover the story. Dreiser’s insights into the social and sexual forces that propelled Allen are masterpieces in psychology.

This remarkable collection is both a history of the true crime genre and a harrowing record of man’s inhumanity to man.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would actually rate this 3.5 stars.
Overall, a very good anthology of true crime, but slightly below what I would call "essential."
Schechter covers the bases - documenting some of the most notorious crimes in American history, and he includes some of the essential writers (A.J. Liebling, Calvin Trillin), but to me,no crime anthology is complete without Edna Buchanan, who's routinely mentioned as one of the best crime writers of all time. Given the size of this anthology, I'm surprised that she wasn't included, while Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin were given more of a cursory inclusion ("look at these important people, and they wrote about crime once.")

Another thing I would have wished would be a little less focus on the "big" crimes of American history, and more focus on just good quality writing. There are plenty of great examples of exceptional journalism in areas like Miami, Birmingham, or Seattle. Many of these cases failed to make national headlines, but as writing, they were first-rate. I think a few of these cases would have went a long way in making "True Crime" an indispensable anthology.

[Bookmarks Magazine · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some very interesting pieces and a few less so. Overall, kind of a mixed bag, which I suppose goes with the anthology territory.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of true murder stories, some written by well known authors. Some good, some not so good.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be fair this is a big thick book and I did not read it all the way through. Famous writers wrote chapters on true crimes and or trials of their day - Ambrose Bierce, James Thurber, Jim Thompson, Mark Twain and others. A fine collection if you are looking for American True Crime stories. Oh and the chapter written by Damon Runyon (a favorite of mine) about the Snyder-Gray case is the story that inspired the famous and very good film noir Double Indemnity with Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray (playing against his good guy type). Very well done.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A vast and utterly fascinating collection of true crime accounts in American history, starting with a Mayflower Pilgrim being tried and hung for murder, ending with the crimes of the rich and famous in 1990s Beverly Hills. Each account is a rich history lesson, written by an author of that time period (e.g. Cotton Mather and Abe Lincoln to Damon Runyon to Ann Rule). As society changes, so often does the type of crime and the resulting punishment.

[Andrea · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I do think this is a good book, it just wasn't for me. I had a hard time getting through the first hundred pages, mostly due to the small print. I thought I'd like that that author started with true crime writings from ancient times, but ultimately I was looking for more recent history. I may try to read it again in the future.

[Lesley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can’t remember why this was recommended but I decided to put it on my list. It was OK, but I don’t know what I expected. It was just a bunch of different crime stories and none of them really stood out to me as exceedingly well written. I guess the only value is how we are fascinated with these stories throughout history.

[Becky J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating historical overview of true crime stories that are or were famous, from contemporary (or near-contemporary) authors.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories, easy read, interesting and disturbing..

[Catherine Welker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gem of old-fashioned, true crime journalism at its finest.

[Garry · Rating 3 out of 5]

10/7/2020

[K. P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection

[Emi_d22 · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was for class but truly such a good book, I don’t usually like anthologies but this really got me

[Carla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Excessively long. More of an aerial view of cases rather than much detail. Fell asleep several times.

[Catherine Austen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting as a study in the way crime has been reported and written about, and how that has evolved over the past century. More a history of true crime writing than of crime (which is why I liked it).

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this at the library, and being a true crime fan, thought I would give it a go. This is a collection of various true crime stories written by a bunch of other authors and then compiled by Harold Schecter. There are so many murders in here that you're almost certainly heard of at least a few of them: the Bender family, Lizze Borden, the Black Dahlia, the Menendez brothers, the Manson family, and on and on. I really disliked the fact that the author made the decision to include fictional stories "based in part on historic facts" from at least two authors, one of which was Mark Twain. The author also included stories written by important figures in history, such as Cotton Mather and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Cotton Mather's "stories" left much to be desired, at least by this reader, as his tales were really just a long list of people killed and him preaching about hellfire and damnation. I ended up skipping large chunks of this book for those reasons, and for that I can only give this book 3 stars. To future readers, I would urge you to consider the table of contents before diving in.

[Christiane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Popular obsession with murder is “often taken as a dispiriting sign of the debased sensibilities of our sensation-steeped culture. Yet the appetite for tales of real-life murder, the more horrific the better, has been a perennial feature of human society.” This volume begins with accounts by Cotton Mather and Benjamin Franklin and continues through to the modern day with stories by well-known true crime writers like Ann Rule. I was impressed by the scope of this work and the quality of the authors. In the account by Zora Neale Hurston (in 1952) about a black woman accused of murdering her white lover, she is able to tell a chilling, heart-breaking story despite never actually being allowed to interview the accused woman, Ruby McCollum. While maybe a little overwrought in the style of the time (1892) Celia Thaxter’s account of an axe-murder in New England has stayed with me as a truly senseless and horrific crime. The only thing that is (oddly) missing is an account of one of America’s most infamous axe murderers, Lizzie Borden.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this read, though I confess some of the parts got so graphic and grisly, I had to shut the book and settle my stomach awhile. I love the idea behind this collection. The anthology is made up of pieces contemporary to when the crimes were committed. Since the book spans from the arrival of the Mayflower to modern-day America, the writing styles vary considerably. The book begins with a heavy puritanical hand and develops into present-day styles. Some of the authors are every bit as interesting as their pieces. I just ate up this book. Some crimes were definitely more interesting than others, and some writing styles I found to be impressive and engaging, while others weren't quite so impressive. Still none of the pieces are slaughtered by the so-called journalism found on the likes of Yahoo! These authors generally know where apostrophes go and how to write a piece without drowning in prose that sounds like teenage speak or online chat smatterings/texts. It is lovely to see proper contemporary writing.

[Gabe · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some very good things about it. I wound up not even reading the first 70 pages, and reading it from back to front, because the more contemporary stuff was more accessibly written. In a way, reading between the lines, it's a social history of America. Overall though, the quality of the writing did vary a fair bit, and I found myself skipping/skimming too much to justify giving it 4 stars. It was kind of nice to be able to sample it and read it in reverse order, you really can't do that with a novel.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

When it's good, it's riveting. Some selections seem like filler, but maybe I just think they're boring because I'm a sicko with a taste for the macabre.

Despite my middling rating, I still recommend this to any true crime or even just history buff. It's accounts like these that give a more complete picture of a complex nation's history, in my opinion.

[Annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I picked up this book I was expecting a book with tales of various crimes, criminals, victims and law enforcement. What I got was a collection of journalistic writing that illustrates more how writing has evolved than the crimes themselves. In that sense, it is a very good book if you're looking for the evolution of news writing through the ages.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great anthology of true crime stories, some infamous, some virtually unknown, but all well-written with brief bios of the writers. I read it slowly, just a story from time to time while reading other books in between. It definitely inspired me to want to write some true crime stories!

[Christin Neal DeLoach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing.