For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb, and the Murder That Shocked Chicago - Couverture rigide

Baatz, Simon

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0060781009 ISBN 13 : 9780060781002

Editeur : Harper, 2008

Synopsis

For the Thrill of It In the tradition of "The Devil in the White City" comes a riveting recreation of one of the most infamous crimes of the 20th century--the scandalous Leopold-Loeb murder case that shocked Chicago. Photos throughout. Full description

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur :

It was a crime that shocked the nation, a brutal murder in Chicago in 1924 of a child, by two wealthy college students who killed solely for the thrill of the experience. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb had first met several years earlier, and their friendship had blossomed into a love affair. Both were intellectuals—too smart, they believed, for the police to catch them. However, the police had recovered an important clue at the scene of the crime—a pair of eyeglasses—and soon both Leopold and Loeb were in the custody of Cook County. They confessed, and Robert Crowe, the state's attorney, announced to newspaper reporters that he had a hanging case. No defense, he believed, would save the two ruthless killers from the gallows.

Set against the backdrop of the 1920s, a time of prosperity, self-indulgence, and hedonistic excess, For the Thrill of It draws the reader into a lost world, a world of speakeasies and flappers, of gangsters and gin parties, that existed when Chicago was a lawless city on the brink of anarchy. The rejection of morality, the worship of youth, and the obsession with sex had seemingly found their expression in this callous murder.

But the murder is only half the story. After Leopold and Loeb were arrested, their families hired Clarence Darrow to defend their sons. Darrow, the most famous lawyer in America, aimed to save Leopold and Loeb from the death penalty by showing that the crime was the inevitable consequence of sexual and psychological abuse that each defendant had suffered during childhood at the hands of adults. Both boys, Darrow claimed, had experienced a compulsion to kill, and therefore, he appealed to the judge, they should be spared capital punishment. However, Darrow faced a worthy adversary in his prosecuting attorney: Robert Crowe was clever, cunning, and charismatic, with ambitions of becoming Chicago's next mayor—and he was determined to send Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb to their deaths.

A masterful storyteller, Simon Baatz has written a gripping account of the infamous Leopold and Loeb case. Using court records and recently discovered transcripts, Baatz shows how the pathological relationship between Leopold and Loeb inexorably led to their crime.

This thrilling narrative of murder and mystery in the Jazz Age will keep the reader in a continual state of suspense as the story twists and turns its way to an unexpected conclusion.

Revue de presse :

“Altogether absorbing. . . . Mr. Baatz, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan, has done meticulous research, and he writes extremely well. . . . His book on the Leopold and Loeb case is the best we’ll have for a long, long time.” (New York Times)

“The story of the Jazz Age thrill-killers Leopold and Loeb has never been told in so gripping a style. A significant work of historical scholarship that reads like a page-turning thriller, Simon Baatz’s masterly book now stands as the definitive account of this legendary case.” (Harold Schechter, author of The Devil's Gentleman)

“Baatz lucidly lays out the complicated courtroom maneuvers and also provides a fascinating, skillful analysis of two different legal philosophies.... A solid true-crime thriller that’s also a masterly analysis of postwar shifts in society’s ideas about crime and personality.” (Kirkus Reviews)

Exhaustively researched and rivetingly presented. . . . One of the best true-crime books of this or any other season. (Booklist (starred review))

“[Baatz] breaks his fascinating narrative into two distinct Law and Order–type sections. . . . While it might be easy to dismiss the murderers―Nathan “Babe” Leopold Jr. and Richard “Dickie” Loeb―as bored rich kids, Baatz shows that there was much more to this story.” (Library Journal)

“The pages read like the very best crime fiction. . . . Reading Baatz’s compelling, definitive book brings it all back to life.” (Open Letters Monthly)

“Simon Baatz’s For the Thrill of It is likely to be the definitive work on this infamous crime and the dramatic trial of its perpetrators. It is impressive in its research, even-handed in its tone and immensely readable. . . . [An] excellent book.” (Wall Street Journal)

“This story never fails to astonish.” (Chicago Tribune)

Meticulous and thorough, and it puts the case in historical perspective as a clash between two conflicting views of criminals and crime, one espoused by...Clarence Darrow...the most famous American lawyer of his day, perhaps indeed of any day. (Washington Post Book World)

“A riveting non-fiction thriller that will turn you into an activity-hostile recluse who shouts, “Go away and let me read!”... What makes Thrill of It so exceptional is the way Baatz balances all the elements: the killers, the crime, the police, the media and the trial’s impact.” (USA Today)

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Harper
• Date d'édition: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0060781009
• ISBN 13: 9780060781002
• Reliure: Relié
• Numéro d'édition: 1
• Nombre de pages: 560