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Loading... The Anatomy Murders: Being the True and Spectacular History of Edinburgh's Notorious Burke and Hare and of the Man of Science Who Abetted Them in the Commission of Their Most Heinous Crimesby Lisa Rosner
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Up the close and down the stair, Up and down with Burke and Hare. Burke's the butcher, Hare's the thief, Knox the man who buys the beef.-anonymous children's song On Halloween night 1828, in the West Port district of Edinburgh, Scotland, a woman sometimes known as Madgy Docherty was last seen in the company of William Burke and William Hare. Days later, police discovered her remains in the surgery of the prominent anatomist Dr. Robert Knox. Docherty was the final victim of the most atrocious murder spree of the century, outflanking even Jack the Ripper's. Together with their accomplices, Burke and Hare would be accused of killing sixteen people over the course of twelve months in order to sell the corpses as "subjects" for dissection. The ensuing criminal investigation into the "Anatomy Murders" raised troubling questions about the common practices by which medical men obtained cadavers, the lives of the poor in Edinburgh's back alleys, and the ability of the police to protect the public from cold-blooded murder. Famous among true crime aficionados, Burke and Hare were the first serial killers to capture media attention, yet The Anatomy Murders is the first book to situate their story against the social and cultural forces that were bringing early nineteenth-century Britain into modernity. In Lisa Rosner's deft treatment, each of the murder victims, from the beautiful, doomed Mary Paterson to the unfortunate "Daft Jamie," opens a window on a different aspect of this world in transition. Tapping into a wealth of unpublished materials, Rosner meticulously portrays the aspirations of doctors and anatomists, the makeshift existence of the so-called dangerous classes, the rudimentary police apparatus, and the half-fiction, half-journalism of the popular press. The Anatomy Murders resurrects a tale of murder and medicine in a city whose grand Georgian squares and crescents stood beside a maze of slums, a place in which a dead body was far more valuable than a living laborer. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)364.152Social sciences Social problems and services; associations Criminology Crimes and Offenses Offenses against persons HomicideLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Using one or two of the murders per chapter as illustrations, Rosner addresses social and cultural issues connected with the crime. These topics include what life was like for the lower classes of Edinburgh during the 1820s, the culture of medical practice and the taboo of dissections, and the developement of the concept of modern law enforcement. This approach is accessible to many readers, as it puts many of the individual murders into the context of society at large, helping the reader to understand how such a crime could occur.
Rosner also skirts of the issue of responsibility for the crimes. While it is clear of who the actual perpertrators are, Rosner ponders what factor or segment of society is most to blame. Is it the desperation of the poor, and the negligence of the rich? Is it the anatomists, who chose not to ask questions, or is it society, who could not accept the need for anatomical instruction?
Naturally, there are no easy answers, but Rosner does a good job of presenting all sides and maintaining a neutral tone. The major flaw of the text is one that plagues many histories, in that some of the subjects discussed become bogged down, and it sometimes feels as if the historian is simply rephrasing arguments. In spite of this, I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the history of medicine from a social viewpoint, or for the most ardent fans of true crime, who wish to learn more about one of the first crimes to grip the popular imagination. ( )