The best book on the subject yet written.

books:


	• The Complete History of Jack the Ripper Philip Sugden Carroll & Graf Pub, 1994 average customer review:based on 62 reviews
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highly recommended

Exhaustive and detailed

Jack the Ripper is perhaps the best-known figure in history whose real identity is obscured. He killed (as far as we know) something between 4 and 9 women in London between 1887 and 1891. He was never caught, and there's no convincing proof anyone ever saw him clearly, let alone came upon him in the act of killing and tried to stop him. He became the subject of rumor and speculation while the killings were going on, and has since been a subject of much speculation and theorizing. "Solutions" to the crimes he committed range from various suspects to a conspiracy of the British Royal Family in some fashion all the way around to anti-Semitic conspiracies.

Author Philip Sugden decided to write this book, and work from as many original sources as he could, recounting only that information he was able to confirm from contemporary records. He generally dismisses newspapers of the era, and tries to rely on police files as much as possible. What emerges is a different picture of the killer and the murders than has been presented in the past, because many previous books have repeated the errors of others while recounting what they believe happened. Sugden does his best to avoid this.

The result is a well-written, detailed, exhaustive study of the killings themselves. Sugden recounts each of the killings in detail, and then spends considerable time telling of the police response to the crimes, their attempts to counter the killings, and especially their interrogations of witnesses. One point he makes clear is how primitive their forensic thinking was at the time: fingerprints were about a decade off yet, and it wasn't even possible to analyze bloodstains to tell if they were human or animal in origin. The police, as a result, depended to a great deal on witnesses and confessions. In crimes of passion or crimes of greed, those things worked reasonably well, but with a "stranger crime" where the killer and the witnesses probably didn't know the criminal, and he probably also didn't associate with other criminals, the chances of catching him were frankly minimal. That's what happened...they didn't catch him.

I really enjoyed Sugden's book. It contains a great deal of information. The author, in the latter part of the book, leans towards one of the suspects (George Chapman) but doesn't insist that he must have done it. He does think it unlikely that Druitt, Kosminski, or Ostrog were the killer, but in each case his evidence is, like everything else at this remove, pretty much speculation. At least his speculation makes sense, however. Regardless, anyone who's interested in Jack the Ripper needs this book, definitely.

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Definitive.

Like many others, I have been interested in the story of Jack the Ripper. When I finally decided to read about the crimes, I wanted to read only the best, most definitive account. I believe that Sugden's book fits the bill. He sticks only to the facts; when he theorizes, he presents an opposing view as well. He does not claim to know who Jack the Ripper was, but he does put forth a theory. After having finished this book, I cannot imagine that there is much of anything else to know about the case. I would highly, highly recommend this book to anyone interested in reading an emotionless, fact-filled book about Jack the Ripper to pick this one up.

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The best book on the subject yet written.

Unlike most "Ripperologists," Philip Sugden does not have any pet theories to prove. Therefore, like a good historian, Sugden concentrates only on all the facts of the case as they can be cooberated by the primary sources. Very well written and thoroughly researched, The Complete History of Jack the Ripper not only covers each of the known murders in detail, the book also looks at several other unsolved murders that may have been part of the series of "Jack's" crimes. Furthermore, Sugden follows the police investigation and examines the suspects developed by the police at the time. While Sugden does evaluate the likelihood of these suspects' guilt, he makes no attempt to positively identify the killer. If you read only one book on the 1888 murders in Whitechaple, read this one.

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Exhaustive, Factual, and Unbiased

Beginning and Elite Ripperologists alike MUST read this book. A best way to explain the quality of this book is to explain Sugden's handling of the facts. Unlike the mast majority of Ripperologists, Sugden's goal is not to create theories to fill in the gaps, nor to hold onto common myths of the Ripper. Any ideas he does suggest in the book are only those most "probable" and based on the facts that are available. Like any good researched book dealing with a topic with various controversies, Sugden is quick to point out flaws in common misconceptions and how their origins were spawned from incorrect historical data.

He does a fantastic job on truly capturing the "complete history" of the Ripper case while maintaining an enjoyable read for the elite and curious passerby alike. After reading the book I finally realized why this is declared THE book to have on the Ripper case. I strongly suggest this to be the starting point and foundation for all newly interested and all who have long loved the infamous murderer of almost mythical standing.

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