Reviewing a History resource: Thinking about books

Bailey, F. Y., & Chermak, S. (Eds.). (2004). Famous American crimes and trials: Volume 1: 1607-1859. Westport, CT: Praeger Perspectives.

    Historians and students of history make use of a great variety of sources. Even in the case of reference materials, the items used are often not written by or for historians. Given the nature of history, namely the fact that practitioners must quickly gain an understanding of diverse fields, research tools from other fields are highly valued. In effect, any resource that addresses the past becomes part of the historical researcher’s toolbox. The interest in crime is high with both readers and researchers: readers are enticed by the story while researchers appreciate that crime reporting was one area of the everyday experience that often still exists in the historical record.

     This series looks to take the interesting and important history of the sensational and horrible and place these stories within the context of their times. Over all, these books explore over four-hundred years of important crimes and trials in the United States. These books seek to elucidate readers about how and why these important cases ingrained themselves into our cultural memory and affected the evolution of the American legal system.

     The volumes are a product of many contributors. Both editors are college professors who hold PhDs in Criminal Justice. Each entry, or chapter, is written by authors whose credentials rage from academics to highly respected independent researchers. Though this series does not have the prestige of being handled by a university press, the pedigree of its contributors invests the work with a great deal of authority. A further sense of the authority of this work comes from the fact that entries are cited and include bibliographies.

     Individual entries in volume one examine many of the most sensational legal events in early American history. As most of the entries are handled by different authors, there is no specific format flowing from entry-to-entry. Despite these subtle differences the important aspects that the work wishes to highlight remain intact throughout. A rough outline of the individual entries is as follows: introduction, context, event, media, and impact. Every entry touches on these broad areas to varying degrees. As media history is currently a growing area of study it is good to see analysis of the media featured so prominently. Methodologically, this work definitely subscribes to the cultural model of history without ever quite reaching a level of analysis expected from post-modernists or New Historicism.

     This series would be highly valuable to AP students as well as undergraduate and graduate students in a wide variety of specialties. It is just as approachable, however, by people who have been bitten by the true crime bug.Volume one, as with the others in the series, is smartly assembled and easy to read. Further, images are used to heighten the information presented in the text.  Despite the tightening of library budgets and the continually growing trend of electronic resources, this series is a worthwhile addition to almost any academic library.