Ripperology - Jack the Ripper Book Recommendations
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- čas přidán 28. 06. 2024
- Buying an old book leads me into the bottomless pit of Ripperology
See the Booklist at Bookshop.org
uk.bookshop.org/lists/booktub...
Books Mentioned:
Elwyn Jones, John Lloyd The Ripper File amzn.to/37l2wxu
Josephine Tey The Daughter of Time amzn.to/3TkIUM4
Colin Dexter The Wench is Dead amzn.to/3UBymJe
Hallie Rubenhold The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper amzn.to/3NTcerL
Bruce Robinson They All Love Jack: Busting the Ripper amzn.to/3yqUK02
Paul Begg, Martin Fido, Keith Skinner The Jack the Ripper A to Z amzn.to/3Fl1EWn
Maxim Jakubowski The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper amzn.to/3PeXcx1
Patricia Cornwell Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert amzn.to/3UqoouI
Shirley Harrison The Diary of Jack the Ripper amzn.to/3G1kfZZ
Michael Dibdin The Last Sherlock Holmes Story amzn.to/3FZuVbm
Alan Moore From Hell amzn.to/3WLHQ6I
Richard Gordon The Private Life Of Jack The Ripper amzn.to/3kKSc4S
Karl Alexander Time After Time amzn.to/3tdNiSa
Iain Sinclair White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings amzn.to/3A3R5W7
Gyles Brandreth Jack the Ripper: Case Closed amzn.to/3tdQJs3
Marie Belloc Lowndes The Lodger amzn.to/3DSScZR
Nicholas Meyer The West End Horror amzn.to/3kIQW2q
Peter Lovesey Swing, Swing Together amzn.to/3A0c642
Peter Ackroyd Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem amzn.to/3vPOai6
Colin Wilson Ritual in the Dark amzn.to/37rLLks
00:00 Intro
00:24 The Ripper File - Elwyn Jones, John Lloyd
01:48 The Daughter of Time - Josephine Tey
03:16 The Wench is Dead - Colin Dexter
04:02 The Whitechapel Murders
08:43 The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper - Hallie Rubenhold
13:32 They All Love Jack: Busting the Ripper - Bruce Robinson
16:34 The Jack the Ripper A to Z - Paul Begg, Martin Fido, Keith Skinner
18:10 The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper - Maxim Jakubowski
20:20 The Diary of Jack the Ripper - Shirley Harrison
24:20 Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert - Patricia Cornwell
25:47 The Last Sherlock Holmes Story - Michael Dibdin
26:26 From Hell - Alan Moore
27:10 The Private Life Of Jack The Ripper - Richard Gordon
28:03 Time After Time - Karl Alexander
28:42 White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings - Iain Sinclair
29:50 Jack the Ripper: Case Closed - Gyles Brandreth
30:53 The Lodger - Marie Belloc Lowndes
31:34 The West End Horror - Nicholas Meyer
32:29 Swing, Swing Together - Peter Lovesey
33:13 Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem - Peter Ackroyd
33:54 Ritual in the Dark - Colin Wilson
#booktube #JackTheRipper #Ripperology
I translated The Five by Hallie Rubenhold into Dutch and was very touched by it. I think she did a great job of telling their story and showing us, like you say, that Jack the Ripper was a criminal. This is one of these projects that as a translator, will stay with me for a very long time.
I too recommend Philip Sugden's "The Complete History of Jack the Ripper". Not flashy, but succinctly presented material.
I would certainly add Christer Holmgren's book "Cutting Point" on top of the list when dealing with suspects and identity of JTR. In the documentary "Missing Evidence" (also found on YT though under name "Compelling Evidence"), QC James Scobie said the material collected is good enough to go to the modern court.
Yes but that would be a modern court in a modern world where we all know the time and aren’t relying on approximations made in between a Bobby’s wake up call or your last sight or sound of of a church clock. It wasn’t Cross.
@@colinivey5059 Indeed. It was Lechmere.
😂
And the court would laugh.
Even Christer has acknowledged some of the ways that documentary twists the facts to emphasise the suspect.
He has also conceded a few of his more disputed claims over the infamous "Time Gap" are maybe not as solid as he might have given people cause to believe. (But still stands by the time gap...)
The bloody documentary opens with a mock up of him crouching over a body as a secondary wtiness appraoches.
That scene is embedded in the minds of peopple who believe that said witness is absolutely the Ripper, and oft cite the line "He was seen crouching over the body!" as if that propves tehir point and you must be an idot if you can;t see their "Truth".
The problem is, that such a scene never occured, and Christer explained that it was done that way to give a general idea of the geography, not the situation. Robert Paul, the secondary witness I mentioned never saw the suspect near the body until they both approached it, and Christer has finally accepted this and said so on public forums.
The problem is, that that applies to anyone who finds a body on their own.
He was not dishevelled, neither Paul not the police officer they met two minutes later considered him suspicious, or to show any signs of having murdered and mutilated a woman seconds before meeting Paul.
The ONLY evidence that supports "Cutting Point" and the "Missing Evidence" is that the suspect was alone with the body in the brief period prior to Robert Paul's arrival. Christer has expanded upon THAT with a load of reasearch, (none that points at the suspect) to conclude that not only was he Jack the Ripper but also the Thames Torso Murderer.
I've said it many times, Chritser has done some very interesting research, and Cutting Point is undoubtedly a well written book, and to anyone who is not as versed in the braoder case notes, it probably comes over as VERY convincing, (but so did Patricia Cornwells investigation of Walter Sickert, on first read...) but it is a very flimsy theory with nothing but "If/Then" and "Maybe if" to get any of it to hold water.
If they made it into a movie, it would certainly be more *True to Life* than "From Hell" but only marginally less fictitious.
@@andrewtomlinson5237 "The problem is, that that applies to anyone who finds a body on their own. " Indeed, and if this person voluntary contacts other people and police, it makes him a much less likely culprit. But in case of Lechmere nothing of this sort applied and it should be up to a proper police investigation whether he is a culprit or not. And police investigation done after more than 120 years later with the help of Dr.Andy Griffiths concluded he was indeed the culprit which was confirmed by QC James Scobie (laughing is YT commentary section though. Also, I have only skimmed through your reply.)
I really enjoyed this. It was very informative. I have added several of these books to my list! Thanks so much.
I am slowly reading Hallie Rubenhold's book with fascination. I have always felt that we didn't know enough about the women
I just translated that book into Dutch! So honoured to have gotten that job. This is one of these projects that will stay with me for a long time. Very interesting and heart-wrenching to read about these women.
Well that was a bit of a rollercoaster! I have no idea why this video turned up in my YT sidebar of suggestions...but I'm really glad it did. I've only really been peripherally interested in 'Ripperology'; largely because of films that I've inadvertently ended up watching over the years. But I do find 'True Crime' quite fascinating. Having just had you take me on a bit of a magical mystery tour down a rabbit-hole I hadn't had any previous inclination to investigate, I must admit you now have me wanting to dip into a lot of the books you've included.
In fact, I've just gone and got myself a Kindle copy of 'The Five' at your recommendation, which I'm sure will probably just create another brand new obsession in me that will warrant coming back to this very video to re-watch all the titles you talked about and why they're good/bad/useful/fiction/theory etc. Quite when I'm going to get around to reading 'The Five' I don't know, as I had Tolstoy, Dickens, Charlotte Bronte and a re-read of 'Infinite Jest' on my planned TBR. Maybe I should just jump in with 'The Five' first...seeing as how it's so conveniently downloaded onto my Kindle, lol.
I appreciate the angle that 'The Five' has taken, in giving these women a much deserved backstory; if only because it seems rather improper that some of the most famous murder victims ever to have been written and read about, should ever really have been allowed to take a back-seat to the identity of the potential killer. But that's just human nature. It's very easy to see ourselves in the mundane lives of victims, but incredibly difficult for most of us to imagine ever becoming a murderer at all; never mind one who killed so many women and in such a violent and disturbing manner. We will always seek to want to know and understand that which we cannot see in ourselves, so when a killer goes uncaught, that's an unknown quantity we can never truly put to bed in our own minds. We can't get that security of satisfaction that this particular brand of evil has been named and is no longer unknown to us.
As for whether or not the women were prostitutes, it's not something I've ever questioned up until now. But what you said about 'The Five' would make sense in Victorian London. And if the vast majority of people who have heard of these murders all assumed that the victims were sex workers, there's still a chance that they were misidentified as such by the killer himself. A local would probably have had a better idea as to who were and were not prostitutes, but an outsider - especially someone more monied - might simply have assumed that any woman sleeping rough in Whitechapel was simply a sex worker who hadn't done enough trade on any particular night to allow herself a place to bed down indoors. And as we know from more modern serial killers, prostitutes are often targeted because it is assumed they will be missed much less and have fewer people notice their absence. So there's no reason to assume a similar way of thinking wasn't being employed by the real 'Jack'...even if he wasn't necessarily correctly identifying prostitutes.
See? Now you've got me interested. Now I'm going to have to go and read this book first aren't I? As soon as I've finished John Cooper Clarke's autobiography, I think I'll have to get stuck into 'The Five'. Thank you for a surprising little discovery of a video this Sunday morning. You've given me lots to look into and that's definitely worth a sub. Have a lovely Sunday, Bex x
Don't bother with The Five. It's rubbish
Thank you for your very interesting and critical review of Ripper books. I use to really be into Ripperology , now I would like to start reading some of the books I had not read or was aware off.
Also I must agree about your feelings about the victims. Connected to what I said earlier, I read a lot of true crime and it always bothered me how the victims were portrayed, especially if they were prostitutes. So I am really looking forward to reading the book about the five you recommended. Grim reading but essential. I just found your channel, I must say very impressive, keep up the good work. Also merry Christmas and happy new year.
Nice collection of books on a fascinating topic!
I enjoyed the book, and I understand the commendable desire to recast these women as human beings rather than mere walk-ons in the grotesque pantomime of Jack the Ripper. But that's as far as anyone reading this book should go in extrapolating any theories regarding Jack's identity or MO.
Whether they were prostitutes or just members of the Victorian East End flotsam may be an important distinction to make in 'clearing their names' for posterity, but it really makes no material difference to the bigger story of Jack the Ripper. They may or may not have been sometime prostitutes (and I'm not sure Rubenhold can disprove this so far removed from the events and with so little reliable evidence), but the basic factors and the end result were the same: they lived a precarious existence, periodically finding themselves on the street or in workhouses, they were alcoholics, and that put them firmly in Jack's demographic. There is a danger, in trying to give these poor women a voice, that they are nostalgically elevated and recast as somehow noble poor, like Hugo's Fantine.
As for who Jack the Ripper was, I've read more than my fair share of books on the subject over the years, but in my opinion Bruce Robinson's 'They All Love Jack' renders them all obsolete. Before that book was published it was like all Ripperologists were just arguing about precisely how the planets revolve around the earth...and then along came Copernicus.
I really enjoyed this look at the many theories swimming around Jack the ripper. TY for placing the women in a better, more humane light as well.
Thank you very much. Smiles.
Sir William Gull was the Ripper in From Hell. I think you misspoke.
If one has to own a single book on the case, it is still Philip Sugden's magisterial "The Complete History of Jack the Ripper" which, _pace_ Hallie Rubenhold, is one of many serious books that treat the victims with dignity, sympathy and, indeed, treats the case with rather more objectivity than Rubenhold's book itself.
Excellent video, by the way. I really enjoyed it :)
Why anyone would say that they were asleep is pretty ridiculous in my opinion. Liz stride was seen being assaulted Annie Chapman was seen just before she died with the killer as was Catherine Eddowes and Mary j kelly had invited someone in her home. The only one who wasn't seen with the killer was polly nichols and Kelly may not have been seen with him but she would have met him on the street people heard her singing and saw her awake. Also the same with people thinking thd killer was a woman for the same reasons above, ridiculous. People should look at the evidence and stop coming out with these outlandish theories. The diary of jack the ripper is a forgery. Sorry for being blunt but it's the only way I see it. Too much hype and nonsense with the Jtr case. He was a local scruff who wore a cloth cap with a peak. A white man stocky built about 5ft 5 to 5ft 7. These books are just complete nonsense.
No one has ever claimed the victims deserved what happened to them. I think that's an old straw man.
Well done!!!
I'm 1 minute into watching the video and I'm already wondering why on earth you don't have a million followers.
I watched this with my grandad when I was 11 yrs old, it was fascinating at the time but dated, there’s more information since
Bruce Robinson ~ They all love Jack...#1
Agreed!
his book makes no sense unless a film was his point of writing it - it then makes sense bro .
Bruce is an angry bloke who really really hates the upper classes.
The A to Z is pretty essential if you are going to get into the case seriously. Begg, Fido and Skinner are pretty well versed... and while they have all expressed their own theories, in The A to Z they try very hard to be as open and objective as they could be.
The Canonical Five were pretty much established as such by Fido (they are occasionally refered to as "The Fido Five" for this reason)
The problem with Maybrick is that the case for him as a suspect is entirely clouded by the case over whether or not it's genuine. If it IS genuine, then he's probably a good suspect. But it's authenticity is pretty suspect in my opinion.
The Hitler Diaries were uncovered (among the many ridiculously unrealistic entries) by testing the ink for its long term absorption. If those tests had been done on the Diary when it first came out they might have put it to bed, but its been too long now, and as far as I;m aware they only tested the ink chemically for its authenticity.
Cornwell's book is pretty well wirtten and if you aren't well versed in the case, you will buy it Hook Line and Sinker because she is very good at writing thsi stuff. But not to put too fine a point on it... it's a load of cobblers.
But worth reading if you want to get into studying the case because it will certainly show you how easy it is for someone to take a very poor suspect, and make hijm look as guilty.
Sir William Withey Gull was a septegenarian stroke victim in 1888... and at several scenes of crime, the Police made clear notes of a distinct lack of carriage tracks... I'll leave that there...
Charles Lechmere aka Charles Allen Cross
lechmere wasnt the ripper . lechmere died without a single conviction at the age of 71 . whoever the ripper was clearly had an explosive temper . jacob levy is a far more viable suspect and was also a butcher .
Shame we will never know the true identity of jack.!!?