Category Archives: True Crime

True Crime Trailers

Two weeks ago the True Crime students finished their video segments for the first episode of the “America’s Most Wanted” series we’re creating as part of the class. I’ve been digging out from last week’s conferences and playing catch up, … Continue reading

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Wiki Embed: Telling the True Crime Story

In my last post I talked about how excited I am that students are building a resource using the true crime wiki as part of the course Paul Bond and I are teaching this semester. I wanted to use this … Continue reading

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True Crime Course Wiki

I’ve been a bit quiet on my blog about the True Crime course Paul Bond and I are teaching, which is a shame because it is a total blast. Luckily Paul has been doing most of the heavy lifting on … Continue reading

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The Insanity of Gender Trouble

A girl that thinks to assume the mask of a man, can shuffle off the baptismal name given her and take the name Alvin J. Ward, take the place of a man and marry a woman—Your Honor knows there was … Continue reading

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Ohio Gang on Boardwalk Empire

After the laughing attack that started tonight’s True Crime class, we actually got to some book learning. Tonight’s readings focused on political crime. In particular, we looked at muckraker Lincoln Steffens’s “Shame of the Cities” as well as Paul Rose’s … Continue reading

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The True Crime Girdlers

At the start of the True Crime seminar this evening the entire class got into a laughing fit. I’ve actually never had anything like this happen before (though there was fist fight in a class I taught at CUNY back in … Continue reading

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Crimes of Terror: Piracy and Slave Revolts

Over the last two weeks the True Crime seminar Paul Bond and I are co-teaching has started to catch its groove. As of last week groups of three students have been tasked with introducing the readings, running the class discussion, … Continue reading

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An Invitation to a Hanging

Literally! We have been talking extensively about public execution narratives in the True Crime I am teaching, which made this scanned invitation to the 1875 hanging of California bandit Tiburcio Vasquez pretty freaking timely and awesome. Thank you, Tom Woodward! … Continue reading

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Benjamin Franklin a Serial Killer?

While looking up information regard Benjamin Franklin’s short newspaper article from 1734 titled “The Death of a Daughter” I found this bit of sensationalism—or is it?—on the Huffington Post: While working on the renovation of Benjamin Franklin’s London home, a … Continue reading

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Legends of True Crime: Sawney Bean

While reading America’s Bloody Register (the subject of my last post for True Crime) one of the things that gives away the shift of crime narratives from moral correctives to popular entertainment are the cliff hanegrs and advertisements. Just as … Continue reading

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