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A review by bhalpin
The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper by Maxim Jakubowski, Nathan Braund
3.0
Recently watched Murder by Decree and From Hell (almost the exact same movie, except one has Sherlock Holmes) and read Anno Dracula, in which Saucy Jack figures prominently (albeit as vampire killer), and I wanted to read some of the history. This book certainly delivers, with lots of witness statements and such at the beginning and then a raft of essays positing a raft of suspects. A lot of these are interesting from the point of view of persuasive writing. I really might use some excerpts with my students because some of these are great examples of how to sound authoritative even if you don't have authoritative facts behind you.
So why only 3 stars? Well, let's just say that devoting your life to studying grisly killings from another era does not necessarily make you a good writer. Many of these essays are poorly written to the point of being distracting. And by the time we got to the second round of essays for some of the suspects, I started feeling like this book was in fact a little too mammoth for its own good. Still, a great intro to the facts of the case.
So why only 3 stars? Well, let's just say that devoting your life to studying grisly killings from another era does not necessarily make you a good writer. Many of these essays are poorly written to the point of being distracting. And by the time we got to the second round of essays for some of the suspects, I started feeling like this book was in fact a little too mammoth for its own good. Still, a great intro to the facts of the case.