WHACK JOB: a history of axe murder
by Rachel Mccarthy James
Maybe not everybody gets as excited about axe murderers as I do.
Except possibly other crime writers, or true crime readers. And some historians.
But let me tell you, this little book has axe murders going way back into pre-history, including a fascinating digression on how to shape a hand axe for the best killing edge. That alone is worth the price of admission.
But let me tell you, this little book has axe murders going way back into pre-history, including a fascinating digression on how to shape a hand axe for the best killing edge. That alone is worth the price of admission.
The book then moves forward to/through recorded history: axe killings and forensic examinations of ancient Egypt, 1200 BCE in China, a Norse record of a mass killing in North America, the infamous Lizzie Borden murder, then on to the last, possibly darkest one a few years later. By the 1960s most homes had central heating and axes were less available. Methods for convenient or impulse murder shifted to more common household items.
This book is well written, in a breezy narrative
style that yet stays quite focused and relays information in an anecdotal
style that is yet very historically accurate. Highly recommended for fans of true crime and those with a generous range of historical lore already under their bonnets to fill in the cultural backgrounds behind the various deeds.
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