Public Reactions to Jack the Ripper

The Whitechapel murders forever altered London society, and nowhere can these changes be better seen than in this collection of letters to the editor sent by the reading public to the major newspapers of the day. Some writers offered advice on who the killer was and how to capture him. Others threw criticism toward the press and police. Still others used the murders to draw attention to the deplorable social conditions that prevailed in London's East End. These were the real-life issues raised by the Jack the Ripper murders, given voice by those who experienced the panic first-hand.

More than 220 letters published between August and December 1888 are reproduced in Public Reactions to Jack the Ripper, each indexed by subject and author and with extensive annotations and illustrations throughout. The editor of this volume, Stephen P. Ryder, is founder and executive editor of Casebook: Jack the Ripper, the authoritative website devoted to these murders.