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Loading... Wasted: The Preppie Murderby Linda Wolfe
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A New York Times Notable Book: Acclaimed true-crime journalist Linda Wolfe delivers a riveting, comprehensive account of the Preppie Murder, a crime that shocked a city and a nation. It was called the Preppie Murder--a killer and a victim who were attractive, smart, privileged teenagers. On an August night in 1986 Jennifer Levin left a Manhattan bar with Robert Chambers. The next morning, her strangled, battered body was found in Central Park. Linda Wolfe, hailed by critic John Leonard as "one of our best reporters," goes beyond the headlines and media hype to re-create a story of privilege and excess, sex and partying--of a teenager whose immigrant mother was determined to make a better life for her son, a petty thief and drug user who'd been expelled from the best schools. It's all here, from the initial police investigation, during which Chambers claimed Levin died accidentally during rough sex, to the media frenzy of the courtroom, where Chambers took an eleventh-hour plea. Wolfe also delivers heartbreaking portraits of Levin's grief-stricken father, Chambers's in-denial mother, and the women who dated the accused Preppie Killer while he was out on bail. A finalist for the 1990 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime, Wasted also powerfully depicts the freewheeling 1980s society that spawned a generation steeped in violence and the fatal impulses that drove Robert Chambers to kill. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)364.1Social sciences Social problems and services; associations Criminology Crimes and OffensesLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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This case was huge when I was growing up in New York. You couldn't see a news program without hearing about the Preppie Murder. Wolfe did a wonderful job of telling the story of Jennifer and Robert's lives and how they slowly came to intertwine. Linda Wolfe takes us through Robert's lies and confession and how they played out in court. She also takes on the way the media and those who had an opinion on the case felt that "victim blaming" was the way to go because Jennifer was not a girl that sat there and was quiet. ( )