Murder - A Tale of Modern American Life

Plastic laminate on cover is wrinkled at edges and along spine, otherwise good secondhand copy.

What exactly is it about murder that claims such a powerful hold on the American imagination? In this book, Sara L. Knox examines postwar America's preoccupation with this act of violence. Demonstrating how American culture both consumes and produces tales of murder, Knox examines numerous relevant narratives?news stories, psychiatric testimony, legal transcripts, fictional accounts, and examples from the thriving literary genre of true crime.

Full of anecdotes and insights, Murder is a lively meditation on American culture that includes not only close critical readings of individual texts but also everyday matters of murder's meaning. It will interest those involved with American studies, cultural studies, and true crime accounts.