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** This is an archived, static copy of the Casebook messages boards dating from 1998 to 2003. These threads cannot be replied to here. If you want to participate in our current forums please go to https://forum.casebook.org **
Alias Jack the Ripper: Beyond the Usual Whitechapel Suspects (Gordon, 2000)
Casebook Message Boards: Ripper Media: Specific Titles:
Non-Fiction:
Alias Jack the Ripper: Beyond the Usual Whitechapel Suspects (Gordon, 2000)
Author: Stephen P. Ryder
Sunday, 25 June 2000 - 11:54 pm |        | From McFarland publishers:
Quote:Alias Jack the Ripper
Beyond the Usual Whitechapel Suspects
R. Michael Gordon
ISBN: 0-7864-0898-7
[350]pp. photographs, maps, chronology, bibliography, index $39.95 2000
Over a century ago, a depraved killer skillfully moved through the dark and filthy slums of London's East End. Despite the increasingly watchful eyes of investigators, the serial murderer—known as "Jack the Ripper" from a signature on a piece of correspondence that has been attributed to him—was never certainly identified. R. Michael Gordon provides a comprehensive look at the crimes and the case evidence, and then discusses the life of the man he believes was the actual killer, detailing the reasons why this person may have been driven to kill. Beginning with an overview of the terror created in the East End of 1888, the book describes the five major periods of the Ripper's deadly career: early life and schooling; a step-by-step view of the murders, including the Thames Torso Murders that authorities attempted to cover up; the Ripper's American connection; a return to London where his final victims were subjected to poison; and the capture and execution of the probable—but never proven—Ripper. To most people who worked closely on the Ripper and poisoning cases, justice was finally served.
R. Michael Gordon, is a writer and researcher living in California.
$39.95
Available for purchase, apparently, from McFarland Publishers (Online Edition) at http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/action.lasso?-db=Promodat.fp3&-lay=Viewing%20Layout&-format=record%5fdetail.htm&-recid=33825&-find.
May also be ordered via phone:
Quote:Our telephone order desk is available from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday. Call our customer service representatives at 800-253-2187 and they will be happy to take your order. If you have questions about a book, please call 336-246-4460.
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Author: Jill De Schrijver
Monday, 26 June 2000 - 04:09 pm | | You also can order it on Amazon for the same price, but they regard it still as unpublished work.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/102-1965491-9308936 |
Author: Jill De Schrijver
Monday, 26 June 2000 - 04:14 pm | | Just being curious,
Is he the same R. Michael Gordon who wrote the book: "The Generals'War : The Inside Story of the Conflict in the Gulf "? |
Author: Christopher T George
Saturday, 02 September 2000 - 07:23 am | | Hi, Jill:
Somewhere I have a copy of R. Michael Gordon's CV, but I think he is the author of the book you name. He also writes on military matters. I have had a letter from him to say that there have been production delays with his book and that it is now due out in October.
Best regards
Chris George |
Author: Jill De Schrijver
Monday, 04 September 2000 - 07:18 am | | Hi, Chris
At least one mistery solved :-)
Lovely greetings,
Jill |
Author: Stephen P. Ryder
Sunday, 17 December 2000 - 03:14 pm | | 
Alias Jack the Ripper: Beyond the Usual Whitechapel Suspects
R. Michael Gordon
McFarland Publishers, 2001. ISBN 0-7864-0898-7
363pp., photo, maps, chronology, bib, index.
$39.95 sofcover
R. Michael Gordon, known to many who frequent the Casebook's message boards, has recently released his book-length study of the Whitechapel Murders, entitled Alias Jack the Ripper: Beyond the Usual Whitechapel Suspects. This is the second Ripper release from McFarland publishers, the first being Coville and Lucanio's Jack the Ripper: His Life and Crimes in Popular Entertainment.
Gordon's candidate for the Ripper is Severin Klosowski, also known as George Chapman. Klosowksi was touted as a Ripper suspect as early as 1903, at the time of his arrest on charges of poisoning his late wife, by none other than Inspector Abberline himself. Although Abberline later added that "Scotland Yard is really no wiser on the subject than it was fifteen years ago", this appears to be the "clincher", in Gordon's view, that Chapman was indeed the killer.
Alias Jack the Ripper begins with an introduction to the crimes and an overview of Klosowski's early life in Warsaw. From there Gordon covers all the Whitechapel murders (and a number of others) in great detail. His accounts are both comprehensive and insightful, with numerous press clipping interspersed throughout the text to provide additional details and commentary. Apart from the canonical five, Gordon also covers the Rainham Torso, Annie Millwood, Ada Wilson, Emma Smith, Martha Tabram, The Whitehall Torso, Rose Mylett, Alice McKenzie, Frances Coles, The Pinchin Street Torso, Carrie Brown, and more. While not specifically stating the Chapman was the killer in each of these cases, Gordon seems to suggest that in each case, he could have been. And indeed, as in most Ripper books, there are a myriad of "could haves" used in Alias Jack the Ripper to stretch possibilities and open doors for Klosowski to be available at any given crime scene. For example, Gordon questions the accuracy of a census report which places Klosowski in London on 5 April 1891, apparently conflicting with Gordon's opinion that by then he was in New York, about to commit the Carrie Brown murder:
Quote:"A second major date is April 5, 1891, which was the day of the National Census. In that census, Klosowski and his wife Lucy were reported to have been living at 2 Tewkesbury Buildings, Whitechapel. But is this oft-quoted information correct? The census taken on that date does place them living at that London address at that time, but there is no way of knowing how accurate the census takers were in recording the information. Did they actually speak with Klosowski and his wife at their home, or did they simply report on what others told them about who lived there? In other words, Klosowski and his wife could have moved before the census was taken.
This is typical of the "evidence" Gordon tends to offer in order to place Klosowski at any given crime scene on any given date. Is it possible that the census made a mistake? Sure, anything is possible. Is it probable? No.
Logical criticism aside, Alias Jack the Ripper is still an above-average Ripper book. When he isn't trying to place Chapman at every unsolved murder scene between 1875 and 1903, Gordon spends an impressive amount of time covering all the salient aspects of the case, and provides a depth of detail not present in the large majority of books on the subject. His overviews of the murders are well-researched and comprehensive, with a great deal of previously-unpublished press material provided for additional contemporary flavor. There are also numerous illustrations found within the text, including copies of complete police reports and internal memos not found elsewhere.
As an overview to the Whitechapel murders, Gordon's study remains a cut above the rest. Although his arguments suggesting Klosowski as the Ripper fail to convince, the book is well-written and handsomely produced, and is sure to be remembered as one of the better independently-published Ripper books of the past decade.
The book can be ordered on Amazon.Com at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0786408987/casebookjackth01A/ or Amazon.co.UK at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0786408987/casebojacktherip
You can also order it directly from the publisher:
McFarland & Co Inc., Publishers
Box 611
Jefferson, NC 28640
U.S.A.
TEL: 800.253.2187 | 336.246.4460
FAX: 336.246.5018
http://www.mcfarlandpub.com |
Author: Christopher T George
Sunday, 17 December 2000 - 09:35 pm | | Hi, Spry:
Thanks for what seems to be a fair and detailed review of R. Michael Gordon's book. I am still hoping to get a review copy to review it for Ripper Notes. Maybe I will get it this coming week?
Chris George |
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