Jack the Ripper and the London press / L. Perry Curtis, Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Curtis, L. Perry, Jr., 1932- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jack, the Ripper.

Jack.

Serial murders--Press coverage--England--London.

Serial murders.

Serial murderers--Press coverage--England--London.

Serial murderers.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 online resource (viii, 354 p.) ) ill.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven ; London : Yale University Press, [2001]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Press coverage of the 1888 mutilation murders attributed to Jack the Ripper was of necessity filled with gaps and silences, for the killer remained unknown and Victorian journalists had little experience reporting serial murders and sex crimes. This engrossing book examines how fourteen London newspapers-dailies and weeklies, highbrow and lowbrow-presented the Ripper news, in the process revealing much about the social, political, and sexual anxieties of late Victorian Britain and the role of journalists in reinforcing social norms. L. Perry Curtis surveys the mass newspaper culture of the era, delving into the nature of sensationalism and the conventions of domestic murder news. Analyzing the fourteen newspapers-two of which emanated from the East End, where the murders took place-he shows how journalists played on the fears of readers about law and order by dwelling on lethal violence rather than sex, offering gruesome details about knife injuries but often withholding some of the more intimate details of the pelvic mutilations. He also considers how the Ripper news affected public perceptions of social conditions in Whitechapel.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1. The Whitechapel Murders: A Chronicle

Chapter 2. Images and Realities of the East End

Chapter 3. The Theory and Practice of Victorian Journalism

Chapter 4. Sensation News

Chapter 5. Victorian Murder News

Chapter 6. The First Two Murders

Chapter 7. The Double Event

Chapter 8. The Pursuit of Angles

Chapter 9. The Kelly Reportage

Chapter 10. The Inquests: Reporting the Female Body

Chapter 11. Responses to Ripper News: Letters to the Editor

Chapter 12. The Cultural Politics of Ripper News

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9786611722869

9781281722867

1281722863

9780300133691

0300133693

OCLC:

1024016587