Overview
The razor-sharp account of a notorious murder The 1924 murder of fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks by Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb shocked the nation. One hundred years later, the killing and its aftermath still reverberate through popular culture and the history of American crime. Hal Higdon's true crime classic offers an unprecedented examination of the case. Higdon details Leopold and Loeb's journey from privilege and promise to the planning and execution of their monstrous vision of the perfect crime. Drawing on secret testimony, Higdon follows the police investigation through the pair's confessions of guilt and recreates the sensational hearing where Clarence Darrow, the nation's most famous attorney, saved the pair from the death penalty. In-depth and definitive, Leopold and Loeb tells the dramatic story of a notorious crime and its long afterlife in the American imagination.
Full Product Details
Author: Hal Higdon
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Imprint: University of Illinois Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 3.00cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.594kg
ISBN: 9780252068294
ISBN 10: 0252068297
Pages: 384
Publication Date: 01 April 1999
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Replaced By: 9780252087578
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Out of Print
Availability: In Print
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.
Reviews
“Higdon’s book outdoes anything Alfred Hitchcock ever filmed. It is a masterpiece of suspense.”--Oakland Tribune “There have been many spectacular murders in America since 1924, including a presidential assassination, but for the first half of the century, it was the murder of Bobby Franks that most shocked the public. Hal Higdon has superbly re-created the crime, combining painstaking documentation with an absorbing, often suspenseful narrative.”--Newsday
There have been many spectacular murders in America since 1924, including a presidential assassination, but for the first half of the century, it was the murder of Bobby Franks that most shocked the public. Hal Higdon has superbly re-created the crime, combining painstaking documentation with an absorbing, often suspenseful narrative. -Newsday Hal Higdon's book ... may be the definitive nonfiction history of this 1920s 'crime of the century.' Higdon recounts every rumor surrounding the case and every detail of the sensational trial, amassing some provocative portraits along the way. -Publishers Weekly The best factual account of the case yet turned out. -Chicago Sun- Times Higdon's book outdoes anything Alfred Hitchcock ever filmed. It is a masterpiece of suspense. -Oakland Tribune A well-researched book that tells a fascinating story. - T. C. Samford, The Ohioana Quarterly The 1990s was an important decade for the republication of major works on the 1920s... This reprint ... should be considered among these important republications... [Higdon] manages to tell a well-known story and somehow keep even the knowledgeable reader in a state of suspense. This is a remarkable feat and one that historians - who are so prone to offering their conclusions at the outset and then filling a book-length narrative with evidence to support those conclusions - should take note of. - David M. Wrobel, Michigan Historical Review
"""There have been many spectacular murders in America since 1924, including a presidential assassination, but for the first half of the century, it was the murder of Bobby Franks that most shocked the public. Hal Higdon has superbly re-created the crime, combining painstaking documentation with an absorbing, often suspenseful narrative.""-Newsday ""Hal Higdon's book ... may be the definitive nonfiction history of this 1920s 'crime of the century.' Higdon recounts every rumor surrounding the case and every detail of the sensational trial, amassing some provocative portraits along the way.""-Publishers Weekly ""The best factual account of the case yet turned out.""-Chicago Sun- Times ""Higdon's book outdoes anything Alfred Hitchcock ever filmed. It is a masterpiece of suspense.""-Oakland Tribune ""A well-researched book that tells a fascinating story."" - T. C. Samford, The Ohioana Quarterly ""The 1990s was an important decade for the republication of major works on the 1920s... This reprint ... should be considered among these important republications... [Higdon] manages to tell a well-known story and somehow keep even the knowledgeable reader in a state of suspense. This is a remarkable feat and one that historians - who are so prone to offering their conclusions at the outset and then filling a book-length narrative with evidence to support those conclusions - should take note of."" - David M. Wrobel, Michigan Historical Review"
""Higdon's book outdoes anything Alfred Hitchcock ever filmed. It is a masterpiece of suspense.""--Oakland Tribune ""There have been many spectacular murders in America since 1924, including a presidential assassination, but for the first half of the century, it was the murder of Bobby Franks that most shocked the public. Hal Higdon has superbly re-created the crime, combining painstaking documentation with an absorbing, often suspenseful narrative.""--Newsday
Author Information
Hal Higdon is a longtime contributing editor to Runner's World. He is the author of thirty-six books, including The Union vs. Dr. Mudd and Boston, a Century of Running.
