Review: 'Leopold and Loeb: The Crime of the Century' by Hal Higdon
Pub. Date: 02/01/2024
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
The centennial edition of Hal Higdon's razor-sharp account of a notorious murder
The 1924 murder of fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks by Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb shocked the nation. One hundred years later, the killing and its aftermath still reverberate through popular culture and the history of American crime.
Hal Higdon’s true crime classic offers an unprecedented examination of the case. Beginning with a new author Preface, Higdon details Leopold and Loeb’s journey from privilege and promise to the planning and execution of their monstrous vision of the perfect crime. Drawing on secret testimony, Higdon follows the police investigation through the pair’s confessions of guilt and re-creates the sensational hearing where Clarence Darrow, the nation’s most famous attorney, saved the pair from the death penalty.
Published in a new edition in observance of the case's centennial, Leopold and Loeb tells the dramatic story of a notorious crime and its long afterlife in the American imagination.
One thing that was fascinating about reading Leopold and Loeb was how it made me reconsider the current true crime trend. On the one hand, there absolutely has been an enormous increase in the amount of media aimed at discussing, dissecting, and documenting crimes. This attention takes different kind of forms, from those which are legitimately trying to uncover information and address injustice to those who are girlbossing their way into excusing male violence. On the other hand, however, we have always been intrigued by and obsessed with the dark underbellies of our societies. Especially crimes such as these, in which a young boy is killed by two young, well-to-do men from his own social circle, for seemingly no other reason than thrills, is bound to have people asking all kinds of questions. It is the same intrigue behind the renewed interest in the Menendez brothers, I think. I don't think there is necessarily something wrong with being interested in these kinds of things, in wanting to know why things happen and how, either to be more informed about social issues or find out ways to keep yourself safe(r), but I noticed with myself that I needed to be careful in what I actually watched/read and how. It is important to keep one's eyes on those who were victimised, rather than turning the criminals into icons. Leopold and Loeb, as the title implies, does not quite land on the right side of that line for me.
In 1924, Bobby Franks was kidnapped and killed by two young men, Leopold and Loeb. The two attempted to get a ransom from Bobby's parents, despite the boy already being dead, and were eventually caught almost by mistake. Leopold and Loeb is an extensive, detailed work-up of the entire crime, from its lead-up, what is known of the murder itself, the direct aftermath and investigation, the hearing, and the lives of Leopold and Loeb afterwards. As the title suggests, the majority of the focus is on the two young men, although much of the first part focuses on Bobby and his family as well. What is really intriguing about this entire case in, perhaps, not so much the why behind it, but the enormous question mark following the who question. It is still unclear which of the two actually killed Bobby and Higdon masterfully evades answering the question himself, although he makes a case for either. Because of that gap, some of the remaining fascination with the case can be explained, as there remains something to question.
Leopold and Loeb absolutely is well-researched, containing a mountain of details and insights in its almost 400 pages that Higdon clearly brought together from different sources. I will say that the book, for my taste, could have done with another editing round. First published in 1975, it was written for a different kind of audience, but it felt a little repetitive at times, with similar kinds of information being repeated again in full. Higdon does have a knack for hitting on the right kind of detail to drive something home and I think here he really benefitted from all the journalists who covered this case in so much detail and even added to the investigation. However, I did get a little tired of the repeated assurances of how brilliant and clever and occasionally charming both Leopold and Loeb could be. This is why it sits on the "wrong" side of the true crime genre for me, too interested in the special minds that can commit murder rather than in the lives affected and ruined. They're not special, they were spoiled young men who misread Nietzsche and thought they could do whatever they wanted. For those who want to know everything there is to know about this case, Leopold and Loeb is definitely the book. Whether I'd recommend it to general readers interested in true crime, probably no.
I give this book...
3 Universes!
For what it sets out to do, which is give all the information for an infamous crime and hearing, Leopold and Loeb does an excellent job. However, in its focus, it does feel dated by now.
Comments
Post a Comment