This was a delightfully plummy read. So much to bookmark and add to my reading list. Over the weekend I finished Harold Schechter’s Maniac: The Bath School Disaster and the Birth of the Modern Mass Killer. It’s quite a thesis and one the author lobbies for effectively, comparing the case to those that knocked it off the front pages of the larger national papers, including Ruth Snyder. This brings me to my real question: where does the femme fatale fall? Must she always be a poor woman in order to be considered the architect of her crimes? I don’t disagree that wealthier women have gotten a pass for their bad actions (although I wonder whether crimes like the college admissions scandal + the multiple issues around the 1% are changing that) but women can also be seen as having the ability to lead a man around by his, er, nose. Since these men apparently have no free will of their own, they are but mere accomplices to these femmes. Is a wealthy femme fatale merely coached better by her high-priced lawyer to avoid paying for her crimes?
Two great, fascinating book reviews, thank you! All I can add is the objective observation that Best Evidence subscribers are uncommonly good looking.
This was a delightfully plummy read. So much to bookmark and add to my reading list. Over the weekend I finished Harold Schechter’s Maniac: The Bath School Disaster and the Birth of the Modern Mass Killer. It’s quite a thesis and one the author lobbies for effectively, comparing the case to those that knocked it off the front pages of the larger national papers, including Ruth Snyder. This brings me to my real question: where does the femme fatale fall? Must she always be a poor woman in order to be considered the architect of her crimes? I don’t disagree that wealthier women have gotten a pass for their bad actions (although I wonder whether crimes like the college admissions scandal + the multiple issues around the 1% are changing that) but women can also be seen as having the ability to lead a man around by his, er, nose. Since these men apparently have no free will of their own, they are but mere accomplices to these femmes. Is a wealthy femme fatale merely coached better by her high-priced lawyer to avoid paying for her crimes?