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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
In the autumn of 1888 a series of prostitute murders in London’s poverty-ridden East End caused a sensation around the world. The killer was never caught, perhaps never identified, but became known to posterity by the chilling nickname ‘Jack the Ripper’. This book is the story of those murders, free of theories and speculation, by one of the world’s most respected authorities on the subject.
Paul Begg’s fascinatingly detailed history makes extensive use of contemporary sources to reconstruct the murders and police investigation, what is known of the lives of the tragic victims, and the reactions of the press and the people. He examines the crimes’ social background, the growing terror, what was happening on the streets, the pressures on the police and the political crisis the crimes nearly caused. Taking an objective look at leading police suspects, his book includes a great deal of new information and assessments of ‘popular’ theories such as the Royal conspiracy and the so-called Maybrick diary – making this the most insightful and most complete account: a genuine history of one of Britain’s most gruesome series of murders.
This is a densely researched, clearly written account of the background history to the Ripper murders, what is known of the events leading up to the murders and the theories that sprung up at the time and subsequently as to who committed them.
Beggs’s research is comprehensive and looks into alleged early victims of the Ripper (including Faerie Fae) as well as the political forces at work in the police force as they struggled to find a culprit. Adopting a fairly chronological approach to the murders (albeit one that sometimes jumps back to earlier events), he scrupulously documents the records of the times, including identifying where evidence available to the original detectives has gone missing in subsequent years. His account of the lives of the Ripper’s victims is at times moving and all appear as pitiful women, fighting to cope with their lives of poverty. The reproductions of photographs of some of the key players at the time really helps the reader to picture the people and the events surrounding these crimes and none are more chilling than the in situ post-mortem photographs taken of some of the victims, which shows the true savagery of the murders.
Beggs devotes several chapters to looking at those Ripper suspects investigated at the time, including the identity of the notorious ‘Leather Apron’ who terrorised the East End’s prostitutes and was fingered as a candidate for the Ripper, Patricia Cornwall’s theory on Walter Sickert, Prince Albert Victor and numerous others. What’s interesting is that he spends almost as much time establishing where those theories match up with the known facts to pointing out obvious discrepancies and the result is an even-handed approach that allows the reader to draw their own conclusions.
Particularly invaluable is the bibliography and references that Beggs adds at the end. Amounting to over 100 pages in total, it is an invaluable research for those who want to go on and read more on the subject of ‘Ripperology’.
The Verdict:
Thorough, well-researched and even-handed, this is an invaluable introduction to the gruesomely fascinating subject of Ripperology and is a must-have primer for anyone wanting to know more about these crimes.
In the autumn of 1888 a series of prostitute murders in London’s poverty-ridden East End caused a sensation around the world. The killer was never caught, perhaps never identified, but became known to posterity by the chilling nickname ‘Jack the Ripper’. This book is the story of those murders, free of theories and speculation, by one of the world’s most respected authorities on the subject.
Paul Begg’s fascinatingly detailed history makes extensive use of contemporary sources to reconstruct the murders and police investigation, what is known of the lives of the tragic victims, and the reactions of the press and the people. He examines the crimes’ social background, the growing terror, what was happening on the streets, the pressures on the police and the political crisis the crimes nearly caused. Taking an objective look at leading police suspects, his book includes a great deal of new information and assessments of ‘popular’ theories such as the Royal conspiracy and the so-called Maybrick diary – making this the most insightful and most complete account: a genuine history of one of Britain’s most gruesome series of murders.
This is a densely researched, clearly written account of the background history to the Ripper murders, what is known of the events leading up to the murders and the theories that sprung up at the time and subsequently as to who committed them.
Beggs’s research is comprehensive and looks into alleged early victims of the Ripper (including Faerie Fae) as well as the political forces at work in the police force as they struggled to find a culprit. Adopting a fairly chronological approach to the murders (albeit one that sometimes jumps back to earlier events), he scrupulously documents the records of the times, including identifying where evidence available to the original detectives has gone missing in subsequent years. His account of the lives of the Ripper’s victims is at times moving and all appear as pitiful women, fighting to cope with their lives of poverty. The reproductions of photographs of some of the key players at the time really helps the reader to picture the people and the events surrounding these crimes and none are more chilling than the in situ post-mortem photographs taken of some of the victims, which shows the true savagery of the murders.
Beggs devotes several chapters to looking at those Ripper suspects investigated at the time, including the identity of the notorious ‘Leather Apron’ who terrorised the East End’s prostitutes and was fingered as a candidate for the Ripper, Patricia Cornwall’s theory on Walter Sickert, Prince Albert Victor and numerous others. What’s interesting is that he spends almost as much time establishing where those theories match up with the known facts to pointing out obvious discrepancies and the result is an even-handed approach that allows the reader to draw their own conclusions.
Particularly invaluable is the bibliography and references that Beggs adds at the end. Amounting to over 100 pages in total, it is an invaluable research for those who want to go on and read more on the subject of ‘Ripperology’.
The Verdict:
Thorough, well-researched and even-handed, this is an invaluable introduction to the gruesomely fascinating subject of Ripperology and is a must-have primer for anyone wanting to know more about these crimes.
