{"id":3381,"date":"2012-12-19T17:44:11","date_gmt":"2012-12-19T22:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=3381"},"modified":"2021-06-04T12:47:45","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T16:47:45","slug":"angel-killer-a-true-story-of-cannibalism-crime-fighting-and-insanity-in-new-york-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3381","title":{"rendered":"Angel Killer: A True Story of Cannibalism, Crime Fighting, and Insanity in New York City"},"content":{"rendered":"

Angel Killer: A True Story of Cannibalism, Crime Fighting, and Insanity in New York City<\/em><\/a> (2012) Deborah Blum<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Angle<\/a>If you’re looking for a light happy story–this is not the correct place to look.<\/p>\n

This is a true crime history of a man who kidnapped, tortured–and in some cases–at children.<\/p>\n

That’s now why I read this.<\/p>\n

It also looks at criminology and psychiatry and the insanity defense in the early 20th century.<\/p>\n

Here’s an excerpt of a bit I found fascinating:<\/p>\n

At th etime, psychiatrists like Wertham who worked with the mentally ill, especially within the legal system, were still known as alienists–from the French word aliene, “insane.” The etymology traced back further, to the Latin of the middle ages, alienare, “to deprive of reason.” The term held another meaning, however, beneath it’s scholarly surface. There was a sense that alienists studied aliens, denizens of some separate community of craziness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But I also find it fascinating how some link religious imagery to serial murder. Here is a statement from the killer,<\/p>\n

“I had sort of an idea through Abraham offering his son Isaac as a sacrifice,” Fish explained. “It always seemed to me that I had to offer a child for sacrifice, to purge myself of inequities, sins, and abominations in the sight of God.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Considering some of the stories in the Torah, it seems to me we’re lucky that more people don’t take the wrong ideas from these stories of God.<\/p>\n

Regardless, it was an interesting tale, but then I quite like Deborah Blum’s writing.
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by The Atavist<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Angel Killer: A True Story of Cannibalism, Crime Fighting, and Insanity in New York City (2012) Deborah Blum If you’re looking for a light happy story–this is not the correct place to look. This is a true crime history of a man who kidnapped, tortured–and in some cases–at children. That’s now why I read this. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,4,5,35],"tags":[411],"class_list":["post-3381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-non-fiction","category-science-nature","category-short-story","tag-deborah-blum"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-Sx","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1737,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1737","url_meta":{"origin":3381,"position":0},"title":"The Poisoner’s Handbook","author":"Michelle","date":"June 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York (2010) Deborah Blum I think that anyone who enjoys mysteries has to be at least a little bit fascinated with poisonings and forensic medicine, and The Poisoner's Handbook looks at the beginning of forensic medicine\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "History"","block_context":{"text":"History","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/non-fiction\/history"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/poisoners_handbook.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10933,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/10933","url_meta":{"origin":3381,"position":1},"title":"The Alienist","author":"Michelle","date":"July 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Alienist (1994) Caleb Carr Set in New York City in 1896 I read The Alienist soon after it came out, and then read the Angel of Darkness when that came out. And then there it ended, so I forgot about the books. Apparently a TV show based on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Alienist.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4551,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4551","url_meta":{"origin":3381,"position":2},"title":"The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2012","author":"Michelle","date":"April 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2012 (2012) Edited by Dan Ariely and Tim Folger I've mentioned before that I read non-fiction before bed. I like it, it's interesting, but it doesn't keep me awake, wanting to know what happens next. I'm especially fond of science writing, because I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Best-American-Science-Nature-Writing-2012","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Best-American-Science-Nature-Writing-2012.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3876,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3876","url_meta":{"origin":3381,"position":3},"title":"The Mammoth Book of Historical Crime Fiction","author":"Michelle","date":"July 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Mammoth Book of Historical Crime Fiction (2011) edited by Mike Ashley Introduction: Return to the Crime Scene by Mike Ashley Archimedes and the Scientific Method by Tom Holt Something to do with Diana by Steven Saylor Eyes of the Icon by Mary Reed and Eric Mayer Night of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anthology"","block_context":{"text":"Anthology","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/anthology"},"img":{"alt_text":"mammoth-book-hsitorical-crime-fiction","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/mammoth-book-hsitorical-crime-fiction-197x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13830,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13830","url_meta":{"origin":3381,"position":4},"title":"An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good","author":"Michelle","date":"January 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good (2018) Helene Tursten translated by Marlaine Delargy \u201cAn Elderly Lady Has Accommodation Problems\u201d (2013) \u201cAn Elderly Lady on Her Travels\u201d (2013) \u201cAn Elderly Lady Seeks Peace at Christmastime\u201d (2007) \u201cThe Antique Dealer\u2019s Death\u201d (2018) \u201cAn Elderly Lady Is Faced with a Difficult\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"An Elderly Lady Is Up to No Good","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/An-Elderly-Lady-Is-Up-to-No-Good.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":362,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/362","url_meta":{"origin":3381,"position":5},"title":"The Bone Collector","author":"Michelle","date":"April 3, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The Bone Collector (1997) Jeffery Deaver I haven't read The Bone Collector in years. I read it soon after I got it--and since I own it in hardback, that means I picked it up reduced for quick sale after the paperback came out, so not that long after it was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mystery"","block_context":{"text":"Mystery","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/mystery"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Bone Collector","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.klishis.com\/Books\/images\/bone_collector.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3381\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}