Crimes of the Century: A Selective History of Infamy

by Richard Spence

Whether you are a die-hard true-crime fan, or just interested in compelling stories about gruesome events, Crimes of the Century: A Selective History of Infamy will open your eyes to the dark side of history...and humanity.

Genres: History, Crime, Nonfiction, True Crime, Audiobook, Historical

Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 2021

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[SheriC]

Pretty dull. I DNF'd halfway through the first lecture, so I didn't listen to enough of it to actually give a rating.

[Toni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Selective indeed. Glad it came with a PDF file.
I'm not mad as some of these crimes I've never heard of and I enjoyed the history professor's take on certain theories of some crimes.

1. A Murder That Almost Killed Hollywood - murder of 1922 Hollywood director William Desmond Taylor

2. The Deadly Irish Fairy Tale of 1895 - the infamous Bridget Cleary. I loved the new info I found out!!

3. The Sarajevo Conspiracy of 1914 - assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand & his wife but I'm not sure if I was aware of a conspiracy...still ongoing possibly??

4. The Plot to Assassinate the Romanovs - I don't think I learned anything new?

5. Three Serial Killers of Weimar Germany - this was a total shocker!

6. American Nightmare: The Lindbergh Kidnapping - my recent favorite conspiracy...

7. Murderous Maids: The Papin Sisters of France -weird & never heard of this 1933 murder(s)

8. The Moscow-to-Mexico Mission to Kill Trotsky - another 1930s conspiracy

9. California’s Zodiac Killer

10. The Charles Manson Crime Family - I feel like I learned new info but do I care?

11. Son of Sam: New York’s Tabloid Terrorist - more interesting than I expected

12. Italy’s Search for the Monster of Florence - read a book on this event, and I think I learned new info

[Lindsay Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a Great Course in the Audible Plus catalogue, by Professor Richard Spence of the University of Idaho. The infamous crimes are: the murder of William Desmond Taylor, the murder of Bridget Cleary, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the assassination of the Romanovs, the three serial killers of Weimar Germany, the Lindbergh kidnapping, the murdering Papin Sisters of LeMans, the killing of Trotsky, the Zodiac Killer, the Manson Family, Son of Sam, and the Monster of Florence.
Each is the subject of a 30-minute lecture. I had heard of most, but not all of these stories.
I listened to these as I went to sleep - not because they're boring, but because they're just interesting enough and 30 minutes is a good length. The Professor has a nice, even delivery, even when the murders get a bit gruesome. Most of the explanations are standard, but he does go into some other theories on Manson and the Son of Sam.

[Kenneth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it interesting that the soviets released false rumors across Europe that the Russian Czar Nicholas and his family were killed.
Ten days later perhaps when they saw only minimal outcry from Europe they took the risk of killing the Czar and his family but only officially recognized that the Czar was killed so that the European Public could say, “well at least his family was spared.”

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting overviews of various cases - most unsolved. There were a few fascinating new (to me) ones in here, most notably the French sisters who murdered their employers. I couldn't believe that I'd never heard of them before. That was quite a case! This series of lectures is pretty short, but it has some new information and analysis, which I found interesting.

[Kirsti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-structured and interesting lectures about some of the most infamous crimes in history. My favorite lectures were about Bridget Cleary, the alleged Irish changeling, and the murderous Papin sisters. I knew the least about those two cases.

[Lynsey Renay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. I think you definitely to be a crime buff and enjoy more of a textbook approach. The other added fun was the authors anecdotes.

[Stephen Tubbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting selection. Each crime is covered in a bit more detail than provided by popular accounts.

[Amy Gideon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The crimes were interesting, and some that I hadn't heard about. The lecturer was engaging without over sensationalizing the content which I appreciated.

[Ernesto I. Ramirez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting revision of this infamous crimes.