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Maniac: The Bath School Disaster and the Birth of the Modern Mass Killer by Harold Schechter
virtualreba's review against another edition
3.0
This book would have been better if the author stuck to the story he was telling instead of telling multiple other unrelated stories mixed in. The whole chapters about Charles Lindbergh’s flight to Paris and Ruth Synder murdering her husband were completely unnecessary and detracted from the main story. Otherwise it was a pretty concise telling of Andre Kehoe and the events of the tragedy.
cjothom's review
4.0
In 1927, a set of rigged explosives were detonated, causing the death of 38 students and 6 teachers at the Bath Consolidated School. Andrew P. Kehoe, the man behind the deadliest school massacre in the United States history, was respected in the community until his rage, resentment, and paranoia overtook all reasonable senses. Maniac is a well-researched record of a terrible tragedy and how a town is forced to deal with the aftermath and learn to understand how someone could become a human time bomb. Schechter uses the tragedy of the Bath disaster and shows how it set the stage for the terrors of today.
Thanks to NetGalley and Little A for the ARC.
Thanks to NetGalley and Little A for the ARC.
georgilvsbooks's review against another edition
2.0
Hmmm I’m not sure what to say about this one. It was an interesting topic however, a lot of this book contained many more issues /stories rather than the actual story that is described in the title.
Which in one way was good because I got to found out some more interesting things on other killers - Ruth Synder, Richard Speck…
But the authors message is that this case that happened in 1927 did not get much media attention, it was quickly forgotten, other crimes that happened recieved more media attention that weren’t as “bad” as having killed 38 young children.
The author continues to proof that through out by talking about other cases that have happened over time.
This book might have been better being written out like Emily G. Thompson’s Unsolved Murders.
I do want to read more of this authors work in the future.
Which in one way was good because I got to found out some more interesting things on other killers - Ruth Synder, Richard Speck…
But the authors message is that this case that happened in 1927 did not get much media attention, it was quickly forgotten, other crimes that happened recieved more media attention that weren’t as “bad” as having killed 38 young children.
The author continues to proof that through out by talking about other cases that have happened over time.
This book might have been better being written out like Emily G. Thompson’s Unsolved Murders.
I do want to read more of this authors work in the future.
bookish_whispers's review
4.0
I received a digital copy from Netgalley for an honest review.
This is one of those books that you know how it's going to end when you start it. It's right there in the title that something horrid is going to happen. Still, as I got to the actual part of the book about the mass killing of school children in Bath, Michigan my heartbroken and couldn't stop reading until I actually finished the book. Though this is the second book I've read by Harold Schechter, this is the one that will stick with me for a while.
What I really liked about this book was how Harold Schechter wrote it. It isn't just facts thrown onto the page and organized in a dry timeline. Instead, Schechter tells the story in pieces. He lays the foundations by telling us the history of Bath, Michigan, and of the Kehoe family. As a reader, you get introduced to people in the town. It's written kind of like a puzzle where you get all the pieces and slowly you see the picture it's forming.
I also really liked that the chapters were small. Schechter draws you a picture of this moment and of this person, then moves on to the next. Sometimes with True Crime, I feel like there is a lot of reputation of facts or a reiteration of something that's already been established. That isn't the case with Maniac and that's what, in my opinion, made this so easy to read. It moves through the timeline of events leading up to the bombing and somehow builds a bit of suspense, at least for me since this is one true crime story I hadn't read.
Another thing I liked about Maniac was how it wasn't just about Andrew Kehoe, the man behind the bombing. Harold Schechter has a whole section about the aftermath of the bombing. He talks about the families, the town, and about other similar crimes that followed. Rarely in the true crime books I've read I have seen that. This wasn't just a book about what drove Kehoe to kill 38 school children, it was also about those that survived, and how this was the start of a horrid trend in our country. So I thought it was great that readers were able to see how Bath, Michigan moved from this terrible event, but never really forgot.
My only real negative about this book was there was a couple of chapters for me that felt like they didn't fit. There were two chapters dedicated to Charles Lindbergh, and I understand that his flight is one of the reasons the Bath School Bombing was pushed out of national headlines, but I didn't feel it warranted two chapters about a man who really had nothing to do with the bombing. There was also a chapter about another crime that set up to explain why the Bath School Bombing was lost to history in a lot of ways, but I didn't honestly feel like we needed an entire chapter dedicated to that crime. I feel like all three chapters pulled away from the events being told and were just sort of the throwaway. In fact, I didn't even read the chapters on Lindbergh and only skimmed the other one.
All-in-all I enjoyed this book and felt it well researched and well presented. Schechter doesn't shy away from the facts or the gore of this book, which there is a bit of gore here and there but nothing excessive. Is it a bit unsatisfying at the end, yes but that has nothing to do with the writing, or construction, of this book. Sometimes the bad guys get an easy end.
This is one of those books that you know how it's going to end when you start it. It's right there in the title that something horrid is going to happen. Still, as I got to the actual part of the book about the mass killing of school children in Bath, Michigan my heartbroken and couldn't stop reading until I actually finished the book. Though this is the second book I've read by Harold Schechter, this is the one that will stick with me for a while.
What I really liked about this book was how Harold Schechter wrote it. It isn't just facts thrown onto the page and organized in a dry timeline. Instead, Schechter tells the story in pieces. He lays the foundations by telling us the history of Bath, Michigan, and of the Kehoe family. As a reader, you get introduced to people in the town. It's written kind of like a puzzle where you get all the pieces and slowly you see the picture it's forming.
I also really liked that the chapters were small. Schechter draws you a picture of this moment and of this person, then moves on to the next. Sometimes with True Crime, I feel like there is a lot of reputation of facts or a reiteration of something that's already been established. That isn't the case with Maniac and that's what, in my opinion, made this so easy to read. It moves through the timeline of events leading up to the bombing and somehow builds a bit of suspense, at least for me since this is one true crime story I hadn't read.
Another thing I liked about Maniac was how it wasn't just about Andrew Kehoe, the man behind the bombing. Harold Schechter has a whole section about the aftermath of the bombing. He talks about the families, the town, and about other similar crimes that followed. Rarely in the true crime books I've read I have seen that. This wasn't just a book about what drove Kehoe to kill 38 school children, it was also about those that survived, and how this was the start of a horrid trend in our country. So I thought it was great that readers were able to see how Bath, Michigan moved from this terrible event, but never really forgot.
My only real negative about this book was there was a couple of chapters for me that felt like they didn't fit. There were two chapters dedicated to Charles Lindbergh, and I understand that his flight is one of the reasons the Bath School Bombing was pushed out of national headlines, but I didn't feel it warranted two chapters about a man who really had nothing to do with the bombing. There was also a chapter about another crime that set up to explain why the Bath School Bombing was lost to history in a lot of ways, but I didn't honestly feel like we needed an entire chapter dedicated to that crime. I feel like all three chapters pulled away from the events being told and were just sort of the throwaway. In fact, I didn't even read the chapters on Lindbergh and only skimmed the other one.
All-in-all I enjoyed this book and felt it well researched and well presented. Schechter doesn't shy away from the facts or the gore of this book, which there is a bit of gore here and there but nothing excessive. Is it a bit unsatisfying at the end, yes but that has nothing to do with the writing, or construction, of this book. Sometimes the bad guys get an easy end.
danilyn1274's review against another edition
4.0
Very interesting. Sad that I had never even heard about this.
jmtaylor1981's review against another edition
3.0
Not a great book but a fast read about the Bath School bombing in the early 20th. The author did a decent job explaining the event & introducing it's perpetrator & it's victims...along with several other American events/crimes.