A more lighthearted example of the kind of true-crime books that I own/read. This is actually the 2nd edition, which I found of B&N, written by a current (?) National Service Park Ranger.
I'm not sure why I was drawn to true-crime books, but I think it was a young boy's curiosity with different types of non-fiction books beyond the bios and pop culture that I was reading at the time. I do know that the earliest true crime books that got my curiosity pique about true crime, were two particular books that I read some ten years apart.
The first one was about the Mob & the Mafia back when I was in middle school (late 70's). It was pretty graphic to say the least, much like the movie horror mag Fangoria years later. The second one that really piqued my curiosity was the paperback version of the book "Helter Skelter", while graphic text-wise, was not picture-wise.
As the decades progressed, I found myself going through mellowing out, so to speak, with true crime in general. I was finding that most of the true crime books were becoming somewhat redundant in formula and content, so I started searching out other types of books to get my true crime fix, like the one pictured above. I found about that one pre-pandemic via a YouTube documentary about Yellowstone Park. But that particular book was not my initial foray into different types of true crime books. Instead, it was more like a pleasant exit from the now tasteless (to some) highway I was currently traveling.
Pictorial history, for lack of a better phrase.
Back in the late 90's, I had gotten hooked into an HBO show about autopsies hosted by Dr Michael Baden, well known forensic pathologist. Curiosity piqued, it eventually led me down the very weird rabbit hole of true-crime pictorial death.
Over the next few decades, I purchased a few true-crime pictorial books that featured stories/pictures about death and policing in the United States. One book, that featured the LAPD, featured stories about policing in the early part of the 20th century, as well as stories about dying (from the local coroners's office). While informative, it was also pretty grim and depressing look at live in United States during that aforementioned era of the 20th century.
I also purchased one put out by CourtTV, that featured a lot of true crime photography mostly shot by New York crime photographer Weegee.This book also featured both crime scene photos along with specific stories for certain types of crime scenes as well.
I was, and still am, an ardent student of American History, especially the seedier side of history, which is why books like the aforementioned pictorial books about the LAPD crime archives and the CourtTV book about crime in NYC intrigued me so. You really can't get a good understanding about the history of the US without delving into books like these, not so much for the pictures but for the stories connected to those pictures.
The most interesting aspect about my tiptoeing into this particular realm of true-crime, is that I've already had exposure to this kind of pictorial writing earlier in my life. My late father was a US Civil War buff who, when I was a school-aged lad in middle school and high school, would lecture at my schools throughout the years about this era of American History. So decades prior to Time-Life getting out of the book business, I managed to acquire by subscription, their entire 35 volume series on the US Civil War.
This also gave me exposure to the great 19th century photographer Matthew Brady, whose grim battlefield pictures truly brought home the abject horror of war to the masses. And some of these pictures actually made it to American History textbooks, back when a school education actually meant something.
Overall, true-crime is actually a good genre to pursue as a reader, because it can cover a myriad of social and political issues that you really can't get anywhere else, except maybe podcasts, which is a whole other post entirely.
Thanks for stopping by to learn yet another interesting facet about what I like to read. The true-crime genre has always fascinated me, which is why, even though I don't read that much true crime these days, I subscribe and listen to nearly a half dozen long running and limited podcast series to get my true crime fix.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Lay it on me, because unlike others, I can handle it.