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The Leopold and Loeb Files: An Intimate Look at One of America's Most Infamous Crimes
In 1924, University of Chicago students Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb were young, rich, and looking for a thrill. The crime that came next--the brutal, cold-blood murder of 14-year-old Bobby Franks--would come to captivate the country and unfold into what many dubbed the crime of the century. As the decades passed, the mythology surrounding the unlikely killers continued to capture the interest of new generations, spawning numerous books, fictionalizations, and dramatizations.
In The Leopold and Loeb Files, author Nina Barrett returns to the primary sources--confessions, interrogation transcripts, psychological reports, and more--the kind of rare, pre-computer court documents that were usually destroyed as a matter of course. Until now, these documents have not been part of the murder's central narrative. This first-of-its-kind approach allows readers to view the case through a keyhole and look past all of the stories that have been spun in the last 90 years to focus on the heart of the crime.
Carefully curated and steeped in historical context from Barrett, this book allows the surviving Leopold and Loeb documents, most of which are in the form of either transcripts or narrative, to function as both artifact and literature, recounting the moves of the murder and sentencing hearing as well as addressing the questions that continue to fascinate--issues of morality, sanity, sexuality, religious assimilation, parental grief and responsibility, remorse, and the use of the death penalty.
This comprehensive, ephemera-driven history allows the reader to act as a fly on the wall and speaks powerfully to the unsolved mysteries of this distinct crime, in which the guilt of the perpetrators is unambiguous but almost everything else is open to interpretation.
In The Leopold and Loeb Files, author Nina Barrett returns to the primary sources--confessions, interrogation transcripts, psychological reports, and more--the kind of rare, pre-computer court documents that were usually destroyed as a matter of course. Until now, these documents have not been part of the murder's central narrative. This first-of-its-kind approach allows readers to view the case through a keyhole and look past all of the stories that have been spun in the last 90 years to focus on the heart of the crime.
Carefully curated and steeped in historical context from Barrett, this book allows the surviving Leopold and Loeb documents, most of which are in the form of either transcripts or narrative, to function as both artifact and literature, recounting the moves of the murder and sentencing hearing as well as addressing the questions that continue to fascinate--issues of morality, sanity, sexuality, religious assimilation, parental grief and responsibility, remorse, and the use of the death penalty.
This comprehensive, ephemera-driven history allows the reader to act as a fly on the wall and speaks powerfully to the unsolved mysteries of this distinct crime, in which the guilt of the perpetrators is unambiguous but almost everything else is open to interpretation.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
July 19, 2018
Absolutely terrific in every way. Very attractive: beautifully type-set; excellent photographs of people, places, and documents; nicely bound. The text is a revelation with a lot of newly discovered material, never published or analyzed in any previous book or article on the subject. The presentation is superb. An edited documentary series of chapters on every aspect of the murder of Bobby Franks by Leopold and Loeb. The murderers’ confessions and their reactions to each other’s confessions are a revelation, and Barrett’s account of the anguish, fortitude, and bravery of the Leopold, Loeb, and Franks families is deeply moving. To me, the best thing about the book is that the texts of the documents included, together with Barrett’s nuanced and unobtrusive commentary, show the perception of the crime and its significance at the time that it happened. At first, I was inclined to suggest that the book would be more interesting to those who already knew about the case in some detail, but by the time I finished, I altered my view, thinking that any interested reader would get a great deal out of it. Very highly recommended.
June 9, 2019
Really impressive example of using archival materials to inform a "well-known" story. The structure and look of the book is innovative and drives the story so well.
October 30, 2018
This first two chapters of this book are a great read, if ... interestingly formatted (more on that later). The third chapter is nigh unreadable, and the forth chapter was so anticlimactic and boring that I couldn’t force myself to get interested at all.
Back to the “interesting” format. This book is organized like a middle school textbook. A million tiny chapters, with an explanation of a primary source and then the source itself, with boxes in the margins with more info (usually something boring about the press or some uninterestingly written stuff about Loeb and Leopold’s families), and notes connected to the primary texts. It’s a REALLY boring way to condense information, and the primary documents for the third chapter are just chunks of court transcripts, and nobody wants to read court transcripts. Nobody.
And it goes on for so long. The book excludes MOST of the actually interesting documents (psychiatric documentation, documentation of the police investigation, and interviews with the suspects) and publishes SO MUCH of the court transcripts, after the short paragraph breakdown of what those transcripts say. It was genuinely hard to get through. I’m gonna be honest, I beyond skimmed the last chapter, about oh of their later years in prison and trying to get released. I was so bored at that point that i just couldn’t care anymore.
Back to the “interesting” format. This book is organized like a middle school textbook. A million tiny chapters, with an explanation of a primary source and then the source itself, with boxes in the margins with more info (usually something boring about the press or some uninterestingly written stuff about Loeb and Leopold’s families), and notes connected to the primary texts. It’s a REALLY boring way to condense information, and the primary documents for the third chapter are just chunks of court transcripts, and nobody wants to read court transcripts. Nobody.
And it goes on for so long. The book excludes MOST of the actually interesting documents (psychiatric documentation, documentation of the police investigation, and interviews with the suspects) and publishes SO MUCH of the court transcripts, after the short paragraph breakdown of what those transcripts say. It was genuinely hard to get through. I’m gonna be honest, I beyond skimmed the last chapter, about oh of their later years in prison and trying to get released. I was so bored at that point that i just couldn’t care anymore.
January 13, 2019
This book is kind of an ode to archives and primary sources, and for that reason alone I could not help but love it (my archivist heart coming through!)
But more than that: this case has been an interest of mine since I was about 13 and yet I still learned quite a lot from actually reading the documents -- when the voices of those involved come through, rather than the interpretations that we have gotten over the years, it cannot help but change some of your preconceived notions, or at least give you a sense of what really happened and the true pulse of the times. For instance, I was struck by the way Loeb always distanced himself from the actual murder, referring the himself in the second person, or the way the two co-defendants were able and willing to question each other.
Barrett's book is also gorgeous -- which seems like an odd thing to say for a true crime book, but its true nonetheless.
But more than that: this case has been an interest of mine since I was about 13 and yet I still learned quite a lot from actually reading the documents -- when the voices of those involved come through, rather than the interpretations that we have gotten over the years, it cannot help but change some of your preconceived notions, or at least give you a sense of what really happened and the true pulse of the times. For instance, I was struck by the way Loeb always distanced himself from the actual murder, referring the himself in the second person, or the way the two co-defendants were able and willing to question each other.
Barrett's book is also gorgeous -- which seems like an odd thing to say for a true crime book, but its true nonetheless.
November 11, 2022
I have to say that while this book in parts disgusted me as to the case facts, it is well written, well researched, and very well documented. The presentation, the pictures, and the overall organization are extremely well done. I had marginal information as to the crime, but after reading this account, the court transcripts and letters, the crime is far more sordid and disturbing then I originally thought, and I was pretty disgusted with the little I knew. I can also say that this case history is not for everyone. It doesn't get any more descriptive.
So who should read this book? I think those with an interest in high profile crimes with a low expectation of criminal human behavior, high tolerance for aberrant behavior, and overall desire to learn from human failings. Is there sympathy for the perpetrators? For me, the sympathy belongs to the victim and the victim's family. That is somewhat lost in the story.
So who should read this book? I think those with an interest in high profile crimes with a low expectation of criminal human behavior, high tolerance for aberrant behavior, and overall desire to learn from human failings. Is there sympathy for the perpetrators? For me, the sympathy belongs to the victim and the victim's family. That is somewhat lost in the story.
August 31, 2018
What prompted the teenaged sons of two wealthy, respected Chicago families to kidnap and kill a fourteen-year-old neighbor in cold blood on a spring afternoon in 1924? “A sort of pure love of excitement,” Nathan Leopold told his interrogators, “the imaginary love of thrills, doing something different.” The murder of Bobby Franks by Leopold and his friend Richard Loeb was dubbed the Crime of the Century – an overused title, but one that fits this infamous Jazz Age tale of murder, wealth and privilege. Chicago-area author and bookseller Nina Barrett revisits the case in this thoroughly researched chronicle that uses transcripts, newspaper clippings and photographs to offer new insights into a murder and court battle that transfixed and fascinated Chicagoans – and still does.
February 23, 2019
It seemed almost kismet that the week after I finished reading The Hunting Accident (about a young man whose father happened to share a cell with Nathan Leopold, Jr during his four-year prison sentence) this book showed up on my library's new nonfiction shelf. So naturally I had to read it.
I applaud Barrett's in-depth research on the subject, and the book is well-written; I particularly like her inclusion of concurrent newspaper articles sensationalizing the crime. But like the majority of literature centered around legal cases, the book quickly becomes leaden with dry, repetitive information.
I applaud Barrett's in-depth research on the subject, and the book is well-written; I particularly like her inclusion of concurrent newspaper articles sensationalizing the crime. But like the majority of literature centered around legal cases, the book quickly becomes leaden with dry, repetitive information.
November 21, 2018
3.5 stars.
August 10, 2019
An excellent view of this historical crime. Photos and documentation present an in depth view. Overall commentary puts all the pieces together in perspective.
October 6, 2019
This book is fantastic - using primary sources and really delving into the crime, the trial and the aftermath. I’m already fascinated by this crime - this book fuels the fire!
October 6, 2023
Probably my favorite book on one of my favorite historic crimes.
February 26, 2024
A good coffee table book but no new research, sad. Some facts wrong, but it is an attractive book, lots of pieces of documents.
March 31, 2024
This compilation of documents, news articles, trial transcripts and letters is both fascinating and gut-wrenching.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews