Atlas of True Crime: A Worldwide Guide to Murderers and Thieves, Kidnappers and Con Men

"Crime is a fact of the human species, a fact of that species alone." --Georges Bataille, French philosopher Interest in criminal behavior continues to flourish. The worse the crime and the greater the notoriety of the perpetrator, the more the public yearns to digest every detail. Atlas of True Crime offers a wide-ranging survey of the criminal underworld from the 1850s to the present, providing illustrated histories of dozens of infamous individuals who have left their mark on society -- in the darkest ways possible. Profiled are the apex serial killers: John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy and David Berkowitz; the cannibals: Jeffrey Dahmer, Ed Gein and Albert Fish; and the spree killers like Richard Speck, Charles Whitman and Charles Manson; plus murderers and cannibals from around the world. Other contents include: Crimebusters and the history of policing The advent of forensic science Bootleggers and bank robbers Top crime bosses of the past century Unsolved murders and Hollywood homicides Romances gone wrong A look into the minds of serial killers Notorious Asian, European and South American killers Kidnappers Big robberies and grand thefts White collar criminals and embezzlers. Filled with striking archival photos in a full-color design with full-color maps, this expansive volume will fascinate true-crime buffs everywhere.