National Bestseller On November 15; 1959; in the small town of Holcomb; Kansas; four members of the Clutter family were savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from their faces. There was no apparent motive for the crime; and there were almost no clues. As Truman Capote reconstructs the murder and the investigation that led to the capture; trial; and execution of the killers; he generates both mesmerizing suspense and astonishing empathy. In Cold Blood is a work that transcends its moment; yielding poignant insights into the nature of American violence.
#577600 in Books 1990-08-11 1990-08-11Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 7.98 x 1.55 x 5.12l; 1.50 #File Name: 0679727469912 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. old and outdatedBy Emma RootBuyer beware: this is an older edition of A History of the Jews in the Modern World by Sachar. You needn't purchase both; as bundled them.0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Wonderful Book in Terrible ShapeBy P. M. MUROYAMAI love this book. I ordered an used copy in order to give it to my friend. Because it was an used book; I didn't expect the perfect shape; but what was sent to me disappointed me 120%. There were highlights and underlines everywhere and I couldn't read it; not to mention that I couldn't give it to my friend. Sellers of used books should have certain standard and honesty: ThriftBooks failed to deliver its service. I wanted them to send another better copy.12 of 19 people found the following review helpful. This is a highly biased book.By A CustomerWhile it is quite normal for authors of Jewish History to take sides; unfortunately in this book the author gives such a distorted view that it is in many cases misleading. While I am not an expert on all facets of Jewish History; from the parts that I know I was able to find a number of basic factual errors. For example; the author states that Zyklon B gas was used throughout the Holocaust at all of the camps. In Treblinka; the Germans used carbon monoxide exhaust from tank engines. Of course this is a minor mistake; but it is an example of the author making mistakes even when he didn't have any political reasons to. A more major error is that the author portrays the Vilna Gaon as a proto-Maskil. While it is true that the Vilna Gaon said that if one isn't proficient in certain areas of science one can't fully understand Torah. Still; the Vilna's Gaon had many students; and they founded Yeshivot. Perhaps the author is uncomfortable mentioning this because these Yeshivot were one of the main reason that Haskala was unsucessful in Russia before 1860. My main two difficulties with the book are that there is a glaring lack of basic critical information and that the author simply doesn't bother mentioning people or institutions that he doesn't like. Hungarian Jewry is almost not mentioned in the book and is ignored comparitively. There are so many mis-representations in the book that it is sad. For example; Rabbi SR Hirsch and Dr. Zecharya Frankel are breifly portrayed as being idealogically close to each other. They both would either be insulted or amused to see this because in fact they were bitter opponents. The main thrust of the book is to show the secularization of the Jews in Europe. But the book doesn't even bring any statistical evidence even in terms of German Jewry which should have been relatively easy ( i.e. comparing the membership in the IRG; Hirsh's synagogue; with membership in the Reform Temple in Frankfort at the same time ); and of course doesn't even bother with Polish/Russian Jewry. The author simply ignores people or movements that he doesn't like. Vladimir ( Zev ) Jabotinsky; the leaded of the revisionist Zionists; isn't even mentioned. The fact that the Bund won the elections in the mid 30's is also not mentioned. Agudath Israel; the orthodox union; is only mentioned as an Israeli political party; as if they magically appeared on the scene. In fact they were one of the main contendors in the inter-Jewish battles between WW I and WW II. The K'hila in Lodz was controlled by the Aguda for a number of years.
