The Murder of the Century
The Gilded Age Crime that Scandalized a City and Sparked the Tabloid Wars
by Paul Collins
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The Murder of the Century
Late 19th-century New York was rife with scandal and sensationalism—but no case galvanized the city’s imagination more than the lurid crime captured by Paul Collins in The Murder of the Century.
The grisly finds begin piling up on June 26, 1897. A Long Island farmer finds a duck pond turned red with blood. On the Lower East Side, two boys playing at a pier discover a floating human torso. Blueberry pickers near Harlem stumble upon severed limbs in a ditch. Clues to a horrifying crime are turning up all over, but there are no witnesses, no motives and no suspects.
Seized upon by battling media moguls Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, the case became a publicity circus, with reenactments of the murder staged in Times Square and armed reporters lurking in the streets in pursuit of suspects. What emerged was a sensational love triangle—and an even more sensational trial hinging on circumstantial evidence around a victim whom the police couldn’t identify with certainty, and who the defense claimed wasn’t even dead.
The Murder of the Century is a rich evocation of Gilded Age America and a colorful re-creation of the tabloid wars that have dominated media to this day.
Hardcover Book : 336 pages
Publisher: Crown Publishers Inc./Random House ( June 14, 2011 )
Item #: 13-363130
ISBN: 9780307592200
Product Dimensions: 6.125 x 9.25 x 0.84inches
Product Weight: 21.0 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Read This 
May 06, 2012
Will have to say that I lost my head over this book.I never thought that a case could be so talked about. I was shocked by the case itself. This is a very good read. Well worth reading a second time to pick up on some of the finer points.
Reviewer: Peter M
September 22, 2011
Reviewer: Cynthia
A Cautionary Tale for the 21st Century
August 09, 2011
While journalism takes a big black eye these days it is kinda fun to read a story about the days when there were no rules for the press. The things they did back then wouldn't be allowed these days. Collins tells his story with the same break-neck pace that the newspapers did in 1897. As a person with a degree in journalism I have to say they never told us this story in school.
Reviewer: Mike A
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