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The Killers Among Us: Motives Behind Their Madness
From one of the world's leading criminology writers comes this complete handbook to the century's most gruesome serial killers and the twisted motives that led them to commit their heinous crimes. The author presents detailed examinations of such modern-day monsters as Jeffrey Dahmer, Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, Donald "PeeWee" Gaskins, Aileen Wuornos, and others.
389 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1996
About the author
Colin Wilson
437 books1,291 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Colin Henry Wilson was born and raised in Leicester, England, U.K. He left school at 16, worked in factories and various occupations, and read in his spare time. When Wilson was 24, Gollancz published The Outsider (1956) which examines the role of the social 'outsider' in seminal works of various key literary and cultural figures. These include Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, William James, T. E. Lawrence, Vaslav Nijinsky and Vincent Van Gogh and Wilson discusses his perception of Social alienation in their work. The book was a best seller and helped popularize existentialism in Britain. Critical praise though, was short-lived and Wilson was soon widely criticized.
Wilson's works after The Outsider focused on positive aspects of human psychology, such as peak experiences and the narrowness of consciousness. He admired the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow and corresponded with him. Wilson wrote The War Against Sleep: The Philosophy of Gurdjieff on the life, work and philosophy of G. I. Gurdjieff and an accessible introduction to the Greek-Armenian mystic in 1980. He argues throughout his work that the existentialist focus on defeat or nausea is only a partial representation of reality and that there is no particular reason for accepting it. Wilson views normal, everyday consciousness buffeted by the moment, as "blinkered" and argues that it should not be accepted as showing us the truth about reality. This blinkering has some evolutionary advantages in that it stops us from being completely immersed in wonder, or in the huge stream of events, and hence unable to act. However, to live properly we need to access more than this everyday consciousness. Wilson believes that our peak experiences of joy and meaningfulness are as real as our experiences of angst and, since we are more fully alive at these moments, they are more real. These experiences can be cultivated through concentration, paying attention, relaxation and certain types of work.
Colin Henry Wilson was born and raised in Leicester, England, U.K. He left school at 16, worked in factories and various occupations, and read in his spare time. When Wilson was 24, Gollancz published The Outsider (1956) which examines the role of the social 'outsider' in seminal works of various key literary and cultural figures. These include Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, William James, T. E. Lawrence, Vaslav Nijinsky and Vincent Van Gogh and Wilson discusses his perception of Social alienation in their work. The book was a best seller and helped popularize existentialism in Britain. Critical praise though, was short-lived and Wilson was soon widely criticized.
Wilson's works after The Outsider focused on positive aspects of human psychology, such as peak experiences and the narrowness of consciousness. He admired the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow and corresponded with him. Wilson wrote The War Against Sleep: The Philosophy of Gurdjieff on the life, work and philosophy of G. I. Gurdjieff and an accessible introduction to the Greek-Armenian mystic in 1980. He argues throughout his work that the existentialist focus on defeat or nausea is only a partial representation of reality and that there is no particular reason for accepting it. Wilson views normal, everyday consciousness buffeted by the moment, as "blinkered" and argues that it should not be accepted as showing us the truth about reality. This blinkering has some evolutionary advantages in that it stops us from being completely immersed in wonder, or in the huge stream of events, and hence unable to act. However, to live properly we need to access more than this everyday consciousness. Wilson believes that our peak experiences of joy and meaningfulness are as real as our experiences of angst and, since we are more fully alive at these moments, they are more real. These experiences can be cultivated through concentration, paying attention, relaxation and certain types of work.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 9, 2011
Colin Wilson is genius.
June 21, 2019
I will give this book 2 stars because I learned some things about big name serial killers that I did not know and it covered a few that I was not familiar with. BUT, definitely some racial prejudice with a British flavor throughout (published in about 1995, when average American would not have used the term Chinaman or African to refer to Americans of Asian or African American heritage). There was also a level of condescension toward the US justice system that, while deserved, was not applied to the British justice system for similar mistakes. And the male chauvinist pig was strong here, with a double standard even a Republican would recognize.
Ostensibly, this book was intended to include psychological information to aid in understanding how these criminal personalities evolved, but there was very little Frank discussion of that topic. There was some reference to Maslow and how people like Ian Brady were just seeking self-actualization. Also repeated obersvations of the number of head injuries suffered by offenders. And a seeming condemnation of the fading out of the class system which meant a more equal opportunity to succeed as the reason some people tried to be special in their heinous crimes. However, there was A LOT of salacious and even extraneous detail of sexual assault and incest and sadism.
Needless to say, I will not be reading Volume 2, focused specifically on the sexual aspect of serial murder, even though I picked up both books at the same time. I got my full and then some in Volume 1.
Ostensibly, this book was intended to include psychological information to aid in understanding how these criminal personalities evolved, but there was very little Frank discussion of that topic. There was some reference to Maslow and how people like Ian Brady were just seeking self-actualization. Also repeated obersvations of the number of head injuries suffered by offenders. And a seeming condemnation of the fading out of the class system which meant a more equal opportunity to succeed as the reason some people tried to be special in their heinous crimes. However, there was A LOT of salacious and even extraneous detail of sexual assault and incest and sadism.
Needless to say, I will not be reading Volume 2, focused specifically on the sexual aspect of serial murder, even though I picked up both books at the same time. I got my full and then some in Volume 1.
October 15, 2013
An interesting, fairly detailed accounting of several of the worst serial killers from the 60s through the mid 90's. The is a substantial amount of speculation about what caused these various killers to become what they were, but the lack of references makes it difficult to determine how much of the speculation is potentially correct, and how much is just Wilson's own guesswork. The descriptions of the sequence of events, and various forensic and circumstantial details seem well researched, but again, no references. A bit of editing could have made this book worth another star. an editor might have prevented Wilson's conservative politics from peeking through what is otherwise a fairly dispassionate, object approach. It is also disappointing that Wilson mentioned lie detectors as having "proven" someone innocent, when it is a fact that lie detectors just plain don't work. He also uncritically mentions the use of a fucking psychics during one case. Ah well. Still a fascinating, if disturbing read.
One thing that did strike me - a lot of the victims were already disadvantaged socially, which forced them into situations which made them even more vulnerable to predators. Perhaps a more egalitarian society could help to some extent.
One thing that did strike me - a lot of the victims were already disadvantaged socially, which forced them into situations which made them even more vulnerable to predators. Perhaps a more egalitarian society could help to some extent.
January 2, 2011
This book is for you if you are keen on some quick and easy overview information on some of our societies killers.
The book gives you enough information to take on board and further investigate if you so desire. It is an easy read and worth picking up.
Not an entertaining book but one of gruesome fact.
The book gives you enough information to take on board and further investigate if you so desire. It is an easy read and worth picking up.
Not an entertaining book but one of gruesome fact.
October 28, 2019
Most books are rated related to their usefulness and contributions to my research.
Overall, a good book for the researcher and enthusiast.
Read for personal research
- found this book's contents helpful and inspiring - number rating relates to the book's contribution to my needs.
Overall, a good book for the researcher and enthusiast.
Read for personal research
- found this book's contents helpful and inspiring - number rating relates to the book's contribution to my needs.
May 4, 2020
It was an interesting read, but some of the psychology seems a bit outdated. I’m sure it was relevant when it was published in the early 90’s, but now it’s just kind of inappropriate. Not to mention the racist and sexist language in several areas of the book. Overall an interesting book on a ton of serial murderers. Just keep in mind that it was written over 25 years ago.
January 17, 2023
Very disturbing… this book is mostly sex crimes, then what the hell is the second one!!
I had to take breaks from the book every time it gets too heavy.
There are a few killers I never heard of..
I was a little disappointed that they didn’t get deeper in the psychology of those killers, and not so much of motives were mentioned.
I had to take breaks from the book every time it gets too heavy.
There are a few killers I never heard of..
I was a little disappointed that they didn’t get deeper in the psychology of those killers, and not so much of motives were mentioned.
April 2, 2019
I could not finish the first chapter. The writing style is horrible. The worst part is his attempt at psychoanalysis of the killers. This from someone who left school at age sixteen, had no formal training in psychology and was unable to hold a job. His efforts at analysis are pathetic.
October 15, 2012
Finished this ages ago, but I haven't had time to review it until now. Hurrah! :)
I'm really into this kind of intriguing, true-crime work, so I was pretty psyched when I discovered upon this. I figured this was similar to another book that I read before and enjoyed, Online Killers by Christopher Barry-Dee, so I thought I'd give this a try.
Didn't disappoint me! There were parts that were a little boring and a little bit hard to understand, but I plowed through nonetheless. It is a relatively outdated book and it is in need of punctuation correction, but I thought this was a lovely read.
I'm really into this kind of intriguing, true-crime work, so I was pretty psyched when I discovered upon this. I figured this was similar to another book that I read before and enjoyed, Online Killers by Christopher Barry-Dee, so I thought I'd give this a try.
Didn't disappoint me! There were parts that were a little boring and a little bit hard to understand, but I plowed through nonetheless. It is a relatively outdated book and it is in need of punctuation correction, but I thought this was a lovely read.
June 26, 2011
An interesting read but in desperate need of better editing.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews