A review by t_bone
American Honor Killings: Desire and Rage Among Men by David McConnell

3.0

I'm not sure why this book was on my to read list - I had no clue what it was about until I got started. I assumed it would be about men killing women, but it turned out to be about men killing men, specifically, killing gay men, or at least men the murderers perceived to be gay. My qualifier about perceived gay men hints at the book's main point: that crimes typically grouped together as hate crimes, or gay panic crimes, or repressed gay man kills openly gay men crimes, are often more complex than the labels applied. I don't know much about murders of gay men, but I do know a weak argument when I see one - having put forward so many myself - and this is a pretty unremarkable argument. The author freely admits that the book doesn't have a thesis - he just wants to preserve the details of these crimes. In that case I think it may have been better to examine one case in detail instead of describing half a dozen or so murders in one reasonably short book. There is not enough detail to become truly invested in any one case and there are not enough cases to recognise similarities or patterns in the different crimes. In the end it seemed like a true crime short story collection. Still not a bad read for sad individuals like me who like to read about sex and violence.