7/20/2023 0 Comments Best books to read 2017 nonfictionIn cities across America, jazz musicians often found their homes in connected clubs and performing venues. English’s newest slice of American noir culture is a sweeping history of the long, entangled tradition of jazz and organized crime, from the early days of Storyville, with Black performers and Sicilian club owners operating a complicated network of protection, endorsement, exploitation, and wild, creative invention. English, Dangerous Rhythms: Jazz and the Underworld Fabricant’s long involved with the Innocence Project lends his book credence and weight, as he details overturned convictions, shoddy research, and the vast egos that underpinned some of the worst work in the history of criminal (in)justice. Chris Fabricant’s ground-breaking new work is here to explain (and explain well) what happened, where we went wrong, and how many have paid the price of junk science convictions. Much of the so-called “forensic pathology” developed and professionalized in the 20th century has now been discredited, and DNA has emerged in the 21st century as the only scientifically tested and proven method for forensics-based conviction. Chris Fabricant, Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System Keep an eye out towards the end of December for our Best True Crime of the year and Best Critical/Biographical Crime of the year. ![]() ![]() ![]() The selections on the list below run the gamut for the true crime genre, including an impassioned take-down of junk science, an erudite history of jazz and the underworld, a deeply empathetic examining of a sensational true crime case, a riveting account of a bizarre historical crime, ethnographic encounters with the NYC sex industry, a clear-eyed reckoning with Southern history, a queer history of a women’s prison, a timely investigation of a shocking historical courtroom drama, and a South American-set tale of intergenerational trauma. 2022 has been a banner year for true crime and critical nonfiction, and it was difficult to narrow it down to just the top 10 -and that’s just so far! August in particular has been a great month for new true crime, and you’ll see the month overrepresented in the following selections, but I promise that isn’t recency bias-it’s just a really great month for true crime.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |