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A review by honnari_hannya
We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence by Becky Cooper
4.0
CW: Sexual Assault, Sexual Misconduct, Victim Blaming (in discussion)
A true-crime book about the recently solved murder of an Anthropology grad student on Harvard's campus that took place during the 1960s, and the unearthing of the sexual misconduct and gender inequality that pervaded—and in many cases tainted—the investigation of her case.
I was deeply invested in this from the get-go, as my undergrad was in Anthropology. The fact that this was written by an ethnographer makes it especially compelling to me—there are plenty of interesting discussions here about bias in storytelling and the kinds of mythologies that we build around these tragedies as "cautionary tales."
It is also a fascinating look at how narratives tend to shift, how stories aren't "true" (and facts sometimes aren't either), but also how the malleability of truth doesn't take away from larger structures of power working against marginalized groups—individual stories may shift, but narrative themes resonate for a reason.
A true-crime book about the recently solved murder of an Anthropology grad student on Harvard's campus that took place during the 1960s, and the unearthing of the sexual misconduct and gender inequality that pervaded—and in many cases tainted—the investigation of her case.
I was deeply invested in this from the get-go, as my undergrad was in Anthropology. The fact that this was written by an ethnographer makes it especially compelling to me—there are plenty of interesting discussions here about bias in storytelling and the kinds of mythologies that we build around these tragedies as "cautionary tales."
It is also a fascinating look at how narratives tend to shift, how stories aren't "true" (and facts sometimes aren't either), but also how the malleability of truth doesn't take away from larger structures of power working against marginalized groups—individual stories may shift, but narrative themes resonate for a reason.