Synopsis
Presents the people, places, and theories connected to the mystery of Jack the Ripper with a psychological profile of the killer
Reviews
Originally published in England in 1997, this is the most heavily illustrated title available on the Whitechapel murders and features both vintage and contemporary photos. Rather than unfurl the case chronologically from the first killing, Trow (Maxwell's House, St. Martin's, 1995) instead presents a more sociological analysis of the grisly events of 1888, quoting repeatedly from Jack London's People of the Abyss and other works that shattered the storybook image of London. As compared with previous volumes, Trow's is a tad light on detail but gains points for boldly insisting that the murder of Liz Stride was a coincidental killing not committed by Saucy Jack. Another plus is the inclusion of a modern forensic profile of some noted serial killers. Trow goofs, however, when drawing the illogical conclusion that the killer wasn't a foreigner because "there is nothing in the behavior of the immigrants of the 1880s to suggest violence of this type," which implies that any local cockney was capable of these singularly horrific acts! A minor blunder that does not mar an otherwise acceptable volume; recommended.?Michael Rogers, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Trow examines the career of the world's first and in many ways still its "best" serial killer in fine fashion. While focusing on popular media portrayals of Jack, Trow also evaluates the usual cast of those suspected of being Jack (the Duke of Clarence, Randolph Churchill, etc.) and finds the cases against them unpersuasive. His summation of each murder generally blamed on Jack features recently recovered autopsy photographs that are gruesome, to be sure, but warranted in view of the perennial argument over the fiend's surgical skills and anatomical knowledge. Noteworthy is Trow's consideration throughout the book of the anti-Semitism that pervaded Victorian society and permeated the Ripper affair: in a time and place when "foreign" was a common euphemism for Jewish, many witnesses described suspicious "foreign" -looking individuals in proximity to the crime scenes or to victims. Such deft handling of the contemporary details is something that particularly distinguishes this Ripper book that neophyte and veteran Ripperologists alike should enjoy. Mike Tribby
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