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Title: Jack the Ripper A to Z by Paul Begg, Martin Fido, Keith Skinner ISBN: 0-7472-5522-9 Publisher: Headline Book Pub Ltd Pub. Date: July, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.75 (8 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Worthwhile & informative,despite authors¿ funny little games
Comment: In his Foreword to this reference book, Donald Rumbelow states that "contrary to popular belief, the pre-occupation with the Ripper is not anti-feminist".
Oh, thank you for the sour persimmons, Donald Rumbelow. Now all can revel in the mystery of Jack the Ripper with clear consciences and without having to worry about being affiliated with those horrible (chooey!) anti-feminists.
And your clarification was necessary because, as everyone knows, when we are not blowing up abortion clinics, anti-feminists are indeed in the habit of committing serial murders of women and ritualistically using their blood to brew our sacred malt liquor.
Sheesh!
And Rumbelow also states that he has no doubt that the mystery will eventually be solved. He wrote that in 1991 before the Maybrick Diary was publicized, but some of us think that the Maybrick Diary contains the solution to the mystery, and yet the debate rages on.
What would have to happen in order for the mystery to be solved to the satisfaction of MOST, let alone EVERYONE? In the wake of the Maybrick storm, Rumbelow's prediction seems naïve today.
But notwithstanding the Forward, this is a very good reference work, usable for both novice and expert, for which the editors, Paul Begg, Martin Fido, and Keith Skinner deserve much credit.
They appear to have overlooked no detail of information or speculation or tradition associated with Jack the Ripper. When one sees an entire entry devoted to "Smith, H - Undertaker of Hanbury Street, who supplied hearse for Annie Chapman", one must acknowledge that the editors truly appear to have left no stone unturned.
Maybe they went a little too far. Does it advance the study of the Ripper mystery to list every fanciful movie or TV show based on that theme, including the Star Trek episode "Wolf in the Fold"?
The authors are modest enough about what they have done and do not vouch for 100% accuracy, but as corrections are brought to their attention, they appear to be dutifully acknowledged and included in each new edition of this book.
Where there are disputes, the authors usually present all sides well and demonstrate impartiality in their analysis. Usually. I especially appreciate their presentation of the dispute over the "Lusk kidney" (genuine kidney removed from Ripper victim, Catherine Eddowes, or medical student hoax?)
But what's this - "(O)n the basis of handwriting analysis, there currently seems little doubt that Maybrick did not write the Journal"? Uh - no. Even the most stalwart Maybrickian might have to admit that the handwriting in the diary is a problem, but that remark from "A to Z" unacceptably crosses the boundary between impartial analysis and opinion.
And what of the famous "Dear Boss" letters written to the Central News Agency, which were signed "Jack the Ripper", from which the East End murderer acquired his legendary nickname? If the letters were contemporary hoaxes and weren't written by the murderer, it isn't really accurate to refer to the murderer as "Jack the Ripper".
When the editors solemnly intone (correctly) that "most researchers" have concluded that the letters were indeed hoaxes, I am inclined to believe that they are slyly using the weight of majority opinion to browbeat the reader into agreeing.
Begg and Fido are certainly part of the "growing consensus" on this issue - do they ever advertise a willingness to go AGAINST the consensus?
And yet, among other things, the "Dear Boss" letters were taken seriously at the time by the police and were written by someone who appears to display the extreme cocksureness of the serial killer. They were written by someone who seems to know that human blood thickens quickly and can't be saved for later use as ink. And they were written by someone who seems POSITIVE that more murders are yet to come. Moreover, they are written in the same hand as that which wrote a threatening letter to a police witness who might have seen the murderer - hardly the work of a hoaxing publicity hound.
So why the consensus AGAINST the authenticity of these letters? Could it be that most Ripperologists have their own favorite suspects, who were unable or unlikely to have written the "Dear Boss" letters, and that these Ripperologists merely alter their view of the letters to conform to their own pre-drawn conclusions?
Begg and Fido wrote about the Ripper before publishing this reference work. Each of them named a different poverty-stricken lunatic semi-literate Polish Jew as the most likely Ripper candidate. Neither of their candidates could have written in the good copperplate hand that wrote the "Dear Boss" letters. Are Begg and Fido expediently allowing their objectivity to be clouded by taking false reassurance from the opinion of "most researchers"?
Ripperologists are confident about issues such as this because of consensuses that they learn about by reading the works of Ripperologists. Did the police operate this way? No wonder Jack was never caught in his lifetime.
In their published commentary about Jack the Ripper, Begg, Fido, and Skinner have proven themselves to be of impartial disposition and advocates of fair treatment for all points of view. They have shown themselves to be friends of the truth, whatever that truth may prove to be. But I am reminded of a book on realpolitik that I once read, in which it was observed that a friend is someone that you can trust 80% of the time.
With that in mind, a rating of four stars out of a possible five seems quite appropriate.
Rating: 5
Summary: the mystery continues
Comment: I found this book extremely well researched, well done begg,fido and skinner. I have been interested in the jack the ripper mystery for some years now,and this book was the first to introduce me to such little known suspects as william h piggot.He was arrested in a public house not far from whitechapel after causing a disturbance, and was found to have a torn bloodstained shirt in his possession plus a severe bite mark on his hand(the day after a ripper murder).Then there was edward mckenna, arrested for suppossedly threatening people with a knife.When he was taken to the police station for questioning and told to empty his pockets, they contained amongst other things several metal and cardboard boxes!(the ripperologists out there will know) that a month after mckenna was arrested,Mr lusk recieved a human kidney delivered by post in a (cardboard box). These little gems of knowledge have been brought to life in this alphabettically arranged guide of who's who ,from the bobby on the street to the head of police investigations.A breath of fresh air, much better than the usual claptrap about the prince of wales etc.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent
Comment: I had to write a research paper on the Ripper murders, and I found this book invaluable. Grab it as soon as possible. I reccommend it 100%
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Title: The Complete History of Jack the Ripper by Philip Sudgen ISBN: 0786709324 Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers Pub. Date: 09 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Sourcebook: An Illustrated Encyclopedia by Stewart P. Evans, Keith Skinner ISBN: 078670926X Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers Pub. Date: 10 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Jack the Ripper: And the Whitechapel Murders by Stewart Evans, Keith Skinner ISBN: 1903365392 Publisher: Public Record Office Publications Pub. Date: 01 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Jack the Ripper the Uncensored Facts by Paul Begg ISBN: 0860515834 Publisher: Robson Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 1991 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Jack the Ripper: Letters from Hell by Stewart P. Evans, Keith Skinner ISBN: 0750925493 Publisher: Sutton Publishing Pub. Date: 15 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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