Description
Book SynopsisAmerican Evil deals with the 'sordid' world of serial killers, their calculating methods and distorted thinking, based around the author's ground-breaking work as a prison psychologist, government advisor and consultant to three TV series including Voice of a Serial Killer. The book describes how the author was 'so profoundly moved' by his inescapable conclusions about how serial killers are 'made' that he was compelled to set out his findings. Bemoaning the serial killer 'growth industry', 'unhealthy interest' and ill-informed comment he sets the record straight. Serial killers are made not born. But his central polemic is that serial killers are one of several malign human by-products of a dysfunctional modern permissive society, overwhelmingly American, brought about by modern-day culture in the USA, lax moral standards as also reflected in other countries to the extent that they pursue a comparable way of life. From the Introduction: 'The simple fact upon which much of my argument is based is that the USA has only 4.25% of the world's population yet over two-thirds of all the world's known serial killers to date. I believe this is a direct result of the environment in which they are raised.'
Trade Review'Excellent... A highly readable text’-- The Barrister; 'I ... completed your magnificent book in two sittings ... It really is an excellent piece of work. That elusive beast of literature: something scholarly but also a page turner'-- David Howard, Monster Films.
Table of ContentsIntroduction; The Demographics of Death; Serial Killers' Personalities; John Wayne Gacy - Gay Killer Clown; Israel Keyes - Clever and Calculating; Samuel Little - The Worst American Serial Killer; Robert Black - The Depraved; Michael Bruce Ross - Feeling More Real; Levi Bellfield - Hiding in Plain Sight; Aileen Wournos - A Prostitute's Revenge; Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka - A Married Couple in Canada; Stephen Griffiths - The Crossbow Cannibal; Gary Ridgway - The Green River Killer; Ted Bundy - For the Last Time; Conclusions; Selected References; Index
