The New York Times Book of Crime

May 1, 2017

The New York Times is known for high-quality writing and reporting, and for this book, edited by the paper's investigative editor Flynn, it has dipped into its archives for historical articles on the biggest crimes of the last 160 years, from Abraham Lincoln's assassination through the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting in June 2016. The articles are presented in chronological order within chapters such as "Assassinations," "Serial Killers" and "The Mob." The importance of some incidents, such as the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, weren't understood at the time, whereas others, such as the importance of television in the public's involvement in law and politics, were prescient. While big news such as the O.J. Simpson trial, John F. Kennedy's assassination, and the capture of Whitey Bulger are covered, articles on topics including torture at New York's Sing Sing prison (1855) and the relative safety of marijuana (1926) make an appearance as well. Coverage of a 1927 school massacre is a harsh reminder that there is nothing new under the sun. VERDICT Whether the reader dips in or reads the book straight through, this will be a treat for fans of true crime and the history of journalism.--Deirdre Bray Root, MidPointe Lib. Syst., OH

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 1, 2017
This presentation of the New York Times' coverage of crime stories, from the assassination of Lincoln to the mass murder in an Orlando gay nightclub in June 2016, joins other compilations of Times stories over time, such as The New York Times Book of Medicine (2015). This latest, however, doesn't provide a steady arc of progress and discovery but, rather, a shocking panoply of man's inhumanity to man. Eleven chapters focus on either individual crimes or persisting issues, such as organized crime and vice. Readers are given the most spectacular breaking-news entries under Assassinations, including the murders of John F. Kennedy and Mohandas Gandhi; Heists; Kidnappings (the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby, featured on the cover, still shocks); Murder; Mass Murder; Sex Crimes; and White Collar, to identify only seven. The scope is international, though U.S. crimes feature the most heavily. One of the rewards of reading this book is tracking how crime reporting has reflected its own fashions, from nineteenth-century embroidered-with-sentiment accounts through zippy Jazz Age reporting (the lead for the 1929 Valentine's Day Massacre is: Chicago gangland leaders observed Valentine's Day with machine guns and a stream of bullets ) to the more dispassionate tone of modern accounts. The great virtue of all these pieces is the immediacy of breaking news, now read with the hindsight of history. Wonderfully well executed.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)