The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York in Around the World in 80 Books

Jan 28, 2011 Kay rated it liked it

Shelves: medical, science, nonfiction, americana, true-crime

A sensational title for a solid history

While I liked this book (and, indeed, having once worked in a marginal capacity in a toxicology research lab, one might say it "took me back"), I confess to a slight irritation at the title, which seemed more a marketing ploy than a true reflection of the contents. More apt is the subtitle: "The Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York." Similarly, I was somewhat confused by the use of individual poisons as chapter headings, particularly as the chapt A sensational title for a solid history

While I liked this book (and, indeed, having once worked in a marginal capacity in a toxicology research lab, one might say it "took me back"), I confess to a slight irritation at the title, which seemed more a marketing ploy than a true reflection of the contents. More apt is the subtitle: "The Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York." Similarly, I was somewhat confused by the use of individual poisons as chapter headings, particularly as the chapter at hand more often than not dealt with more than one poison.

Having said that, the book's strength, I thought, was in chronicling how two men, Charles Norris and Alexander Gettler, were largely responsible for setting new standards and shepherding forensic medicine to respectability in the United States. Their crusade was pivotal not just to forensic medicine but to the development of public health policies.

The book is a curious mix, however, in that it recounts some of the early 20th century's most sensational murder-by-poison cases while it also discusses each poison's role in accidental death. One of these, methyl alcohol, played a major historical role, for after Prohibition, methyl alcohol poisonings skyrocketed as bootleggers added the substance to their products. Anther poison, carbon monoxide, had an everyday use as "illuminating gas." Still another, radium, was being marketed as a health tonic in the 1920's. As much as the tales of sinister murders (or perhaps even more so), it was this "everyday" face of poison that I found really chilling.

Most striking was the official attempt to cover up or even abet the effects of various poisons. In the case of methyl alcohol, for example, the official government position was:

"if Americans persisted in flouting the law, if they continued to evade the hardworking law enforcement agents, then perhaps the best way to enforce Prohibition was to make alcohol so deadly that even the sellout chemists working for the crime syndicates couldn’t rescue it. If alcohol was truly undrinkable, the argument went, even the most devoted boozer would have to give it up. “

And thus a long list of toxic substances were added to methyl alcohol, purely as deterrents, including "gasoline, benzene, cadmium, iodine, zinc, mercury salts, nicotine, ether, formalthehyde, chloroform, camphor, carbolic acid, quinine, and acetone."

In the end it was Norris and Gettler's pivotal roles as public crusaders rather than as criminal catchers than most interested me. I couldn't help but feel that the "murder" angle had been played up more as a marketing ploy than as the meat-and-bones of the narrative. Still, a nice touch was bringing the book "full circle" by having Gettler provide testimony that convicted a murderer he'd earlier crossed paths with. In a satisfying conclusion the author notes:

"During Creighton’s [the murderer's] first trial for the death of her brother, defense attorneys had been able to mock the prosecution’s scientific evidence. By the time of her second trial, defense attorneys were complaining that the city lab’s reputation was too strong, and that Gettler was so well respected that jurors tended to accept whatever he said. This dramatic shift in popular opinion was made possible by Norris’s and Gettler’s unfaltering dedication to furthering the study of forensic toxicology.”

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Dec 08, 2016 Andy Plonka rated it liked it

The book gave a good synopsis of how people succumbed to various poisons which at the time they died were not considered fatal. Obviously we learn by our mistakes, but because the book's title implies that people were intentionally killing others using substances which are poisonous to humans, I expected the emphasis to be more on situations in which that was the case. For instance, Marie Curie was not trying to kill people through her work on radioactivity (and, in fact, she died because of her ...more

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Apr 08, 2012 Jessica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, historical, new-york-city, true-crime, science

Blum lays out a very compelling story here and does a nice job of mixing biography, science, and true-crime reporting to keep things moving. The science angle definitely assumes a relatively low level of technical knowledge, which may be a pro or a con depending on your own science background. My favorite piece is probably Blum's afterword, where she discusses the nature of poison as a murderer's tool and what sets it apart from other homicidal methods - in a few brief pages she gives it a broad ...more

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May 11, 2020 Jana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club, x2020-reading-challenge

The chemistry geek in me really enjoyed this book.

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Oct 30, 2021 Erica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science, american-history, medical-issues

Great book about the early history of forensic science! 4 instead of 5 stars because it took a very, very long time for the "jazz age" element to make itself known. "Prohibition" would have been more accurate, but of course jazz age is more interesting for a title. ...more

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Mar 14, 2020 Julie rated it really liked it

Shelves: to-read-own

Fascinating, suspenseful and a little gross. Took me a while to finish this one but I did enjoy it. It has been on my bookshelf forever, happy to get it off my #MountTBR

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