The Zodiac Killer. The Son of Sam. The Lindbergh kidnapping. Over the past century, certain crimes have captured the imagination of the public, dominating the front pages of newspapers and inspiring armchair investigators for generations. At the heart of these “crimes of the century” is often a burning question: Who did it? Or, if the culprit is known, what was the motivation?
Crime is perennially appealing because it takes us into the dark recesses of the human psyche. Murder forces us to confront our own mortality, and it raises unanswerable questions about human nature, the social contract, and how well we truly know even those closest to us. From a serial killer’s decades-long crime spree to a conspiracy to commit political assassination, murder elicits mystery—and most of us cannot turn away.
Delve into some of the most infamous, ghastly, and mysterious crimes of the last hundred-odd years in Crimes of the Century: A Selective History of Infamy. Taught by Professor Richard B. Spence of the University of Idaho, this enthralling course gives you a dozen case studies of murders most foul. From an intriguing Irish domestic murder to a world-shaking political assassination, this course gives you an inside look at some of the most heinous and maddeningly unknowable crimes in modern history.
Contemporary tabloids may have offered salacious details as the crimes were unfurling, but today we have the beauty of hindsight to analyze the crimes. While many of them remain as mysterious as when they occurred, the historian’s view allows us to situate the homicides in their time and place and can give us insight into both the particulars of the era as well as something universal about human nature.
Whether you are a die-hard true crime fan, or just interested in compelling stories about gruesome events, Crimes of the Century: A Selective History of Infamy will open your eyes to the dark side of history … and humanity.
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