CHRONICLE OF 20TH CENTURY MURDER

Hardback, Reprint. Fully illustrated and vast in its scope, this book examines every major murder in the 20th century, in the light of its investigative, forensic, social or legal significance. Here are the cases of James Hanratty; Dennis Nilsen, the civil servant who 'killed for company'; Harry Thaw, the sadist whose defence for murder was 'the American right to defend the virtue of womanhood'; and Ruth Ellis, whose controversial hanging in 1955 hastened the abolition of the death penalty. The scores of cases in this pioneering year-by-year overview add up to a vivid and disturbing picture of those who deliberately and callously take human life, and of how our society has attempted to track down, punish and comprehend the killers walking undetected among us. Illus., Chronological Index and Alphabetical Index of Cases. 316pp. lge 8vo. h/back. Nr. F. in Vg+ dw. A heavy book which will require additional postage both domestic and overseas.