Product Details
Bloodletters and Badmen: A Narrative Encyclopedia of American Criminals from the Pilgrims to the Present

Bloodletters and Badmen: A Narrative Encyclopedia of American Criminals from the Pilgrims to the Present
By Jay Robert Nash

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Average customer review:
Originally published in 1973, this is a classic in the field of True Crime. There has been a lot of discussion about Nash not always getting his facts in order, but this is still a great A-Z collection of America's Worst, "from the Pilgrims to the Present".

Product Description

A narrative encyclopedia of American criminals from the pilgrims to the present.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #296295 in Books
  • Published on: 1995-04-25
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 698 pages

Editorial Reviews

About the Author
Jay Robert Nash

Customer Reviews

Compelling. Your eyes will be as big as saucers!4
A truly awe-inspiring work, this volume is that rare being: a non-fictional crime book that suceeds in sheer storytelling power.

However, I did not give it 5 stars because Nash is not always reliable with the facts. For instance, he moans to the world that the infamous Dr. H. H. Holmes ACTUALLY KILLED OVER TWO HUNDRED WOMEN!!!! In fact, Harold Schector, in his Holmes bio "Depraved," tells us that the number of bodies uncovered in the good doctor's house was never positively identified, since all the bones were hopelessly jumbled up, and that the actual number probably did not go nearly so high.

Also, Nash insists that a frenzied Holmes, about to be hung, cried out to protest his innocence and identify one of his victims as the real killer. Nash simply cannot resist treating this desperate plea for life as tantalizing evidence of an unsolved mystery. GIVE ME A BREAK, MR. NASH!!! After just pointing out how much of a notorious liar Holmes had always been, you suddenly go and turn novelistic on us. Shame on you.

In fact, in Schector's recounting we see an unaffraid Holmes, cool to the last, calmly reminding the hangmen not to make the noose too tight, and then swinging to his death without so much as a gag. This version is more believable, based on the fiend's personality, and is borne out by contemporary newspaper accounts. Why forsake the hard facts for Nash's dime novel retelling?

Otherwise, "Bloodletters and Badmen is highly recommended!

HAS ITS MOMENTS3
Depending on what you enjoy in a true crime, this one has just about everything. It would be better if more was known about certain ones that made a major impact on some peoples lives. But there are other parts that are very good. Yet it doesn't need to have so many mafia/mobsters in it. Capone, Massacres and things of that nature are fine, But hinchmen who just had a scary name need not be involved. As well as bodyguards and so-on.

A must for true crime readers5
I originally purchased this book some years back and refer to it frequently. It includes all the notable criminals, Jesse James, John Dillinger, more recent serial killers, etc. It is well-researched and Nash has the ability to make even the most mundane facts interesting.