Did They Really Do It?
From Lizzie Borden to the 20th Hijacker
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Nine of the most controversial violent crimes in America’s history are reexamined in these compelling stories of true crime
Dr. Samuel Mudd set John Wilkes Booth’s broken ankle, but was he actually part of the larger conspiracy to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln? Did Lizzie Borden brutally murder her own parents in Massachusetts? Was admitted jihadist Zacarias Moussaoui really involved in the terrorist plot to destroy the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001? In a series of provocative and eye-opening true crime investigations, author Fred Rosen revisits some of the most shocking and notorious crimes in America over the past two centuries to determine once and for all . . . did they really do it?
Applying logic and techniques of modern criminology while reexamining the crime scenes, official police records, and the original courtroom testimonies of witnesses and the accused, Rosen explores nine infamous crimes that rocked the nation and the verdicts that were ultimately handed down. From Ethel and Julius Rosenberg’s execution for treason to the kidnapping and killing of the Lindbergh baby to the Ku Klux Klan slayings of three civil rights workers in Mississippi to 9/11, the alleged perpetrators get another day in court as Rosen calls into question the circumstantial evidence and cultural context that may have determined guilt or innocence in each case.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this speculative true crime offering, author and part-time murder investigator Rosen tackles nine of history's most infamous court cases. He includes the 1865-69 case against Dr. Samuel Mudd, thought to have conspired with John Wilkes Booth in Lincoln's assassination; the highly publicized Rosenberg espionage trial in 1954; the two-part investigation into the Ku Klux Klan's involvement in the murders of Civil Rights workers in Mississippi; and the recent court battle against Zacharias Moussaoui. Reexamining the original crime scenes and using eyewitness testimony and FBI files, Rosen aims to present well-thought out and systematic answers to questions of guilt. In his summary of the case against Lizzie Borden, accused of hacking her parents to death with an axe, Rosen considers modern criminological information on patricide and pronounces her guilty, though he conjectures that given a history of abuse and the unpleasant cultural context of Borden's status as a spinster in 19th century Massachusetts, an innocent verdict might be the result in a contemporary retrial. Although some of his pronouncements sound like incredulous statements from someone who's decided the verdict before hearing the evidence, Rosen's book admirably presents cases in their historical context, illustrating how cultural shifts can affect judicial pronouncements. Photos.
