Suggested reading

[Janner]

Hello all,

I'm new to the forum, although have an interest in Jack the Ripper spanning 25 years. Been a few years since I read anything new so any suggestions on "must reads" would be most welcome.

I have read/own the following:

Uncensored Facts, Paul Begg
Final Solution, Stephen Knight
The Identity of Jack the Ripper, Donald McCormick
Ultimate Sourcebook, Stewart P.Evans & Keith Skinner
The Complete Jack the Ripper, Donald Rumbelow
The Diary of Jack the Ripper
The Lodger, Stewart Evans & Paul Gainey
The Mystery Solved, Paul Harrison
Portrait of a Killer, Patricia Cornwell

Many thanks,

Andy

[mariab]

Janner,
Stewart P. Evans: Jack the Ripper Letters from Hell, Scotland Yard investigates.
Bruce Paley: Jack the Ripper – The simple truth (about Jo Barnett as a suspect, but very informative about the living conditions in Victorian Whitechapel).

[Chris]

I would still put Philip Sugden's "The Complete History of Jack the Ripper" at the top of my list.

[mariab]

Oh, yes, totally overlooked that Sugden was missing from Janner's reading list.

[Tom_Wescott]

Begg's 'Uncensored Facts' should be struck and replaced with his far more recent and thorough 'The Facts' and also 'Definitive History' and 'The Complete Jack the Ripper A-Z', which recently came out. Assuming this list isn't just for books, I'd also add a back collection of Ripper Notes, Ripperologist, as well as the current Ripperologist and Casebook Examiner.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[mariab]

I knew that about Uncensored facts. I just didn't want to be the one to say it.

[Jenni Shelden]

Philip Hutchinson and Rob Clacks book, London jtr then and now, i always feel is a good overview of the case.

Of course I wholeheartedly agree with Tom that one should get the Casebook Examiner!
Jenni

[Rob Clack]

Thanks Jenni. For those who don't have a copy a slightly revised and updated edition will hopefully be available in paperback at the end of this month.

Rob

[Adam Went]

Welcome to the forums, first of all.
As to the books, it depends what area of the case you're most interested in learning about. If you're after just the complete history of the case in general, then you can't beat the books already mentioned by Sugden or Begg.

But I firmly believe that in order to understand the murders and the victims you have to understand the environment they were living in during 1888 as well, and for that, you might want to look into getting books like "Jack the Ripper and the East End" by Alex Werner (particularly for the mountains of illustrations), or another of my favourites, "The Victorian Underworld" by Donald Thomas. Both are quite recent and definitely worth a look.

Cheers,
Adam.

[Tom_Wescott]

"Jack the Ripper and the East End" by Alex Werner (particularly for the mountains of illustrations), or another of my favourites, "The Victorian Underworld" by Donald Thomas.

Wow, Adam Went has books I don't. Gotta do something about this. All kidding aside, these sound good, particularly Victorian Underworld.

Yours truly,

Tom Wescott

[Adam Went]

Tom:

You can have a lend of it if you like.

Here's the link for Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Victorian-Underworld-Donald-Thomas/dp/0814782388

The thing that "Victorian Underworld" does well is that it combines a number of different topics and crams it all into one book....for instance, there's a section on "Walter" the diarist, a section on the studies of Henry Mayhew, a section on Victorian music, theatre and entertainment, a section on the Great Train Robbery of 1855, and much more......definitely worth coughing up a few dollars for.

As for "Jack the Ripper and the East End", I should clarify as my earlier post might be a little misleading - while Alex Werner co-ordinates it, the book is actually a collection of works by 6 or 7 different authors covering a variety of topics relating to Jack's East End, and published together under one title.

Cheers,
Adam.

[Janner]

Welcome to the forums, first of all.
As to the books, it depends what area of the case you're most interested in learning about. If you're after just the complete history of the case in general, then you can't beat the books already mentioned by Sugden or Begg.

But I firmly believe that in order to understand the murders and the victims you have to understand the environment they were living in during 1888 as well, and for that, you might want to look into getting books like "Jack the Ripper and the East End" by Alex Werner (particularly for the mountains of illustrations), or another of my favourites, "The Victorian Underworld" by Donald Thomas. Both are quite recent and definitely worth a look.

Cheers,
Adam.

Thanks everyone, definitely got a bit of catching up to do, grateful for all the suggestions.

Adam, I totally agree with your last point. I have read Fishmans East End 1888, Stedman Jones' Outcast London, Jack Londons People of the Abyss, Child of the Jago and Tales of Mean Streets by Arthur Morrison. I will certainly look out for the two titles you suggest.

Just to add to my original list of those books that I have read, I came across a box of books in my garage and lo and behold there was a copy of "Letters From Hell" (Stewart P.Evans & Keith Skinner) that somebody bought me as a present in 2003 and I'd completely forgotten I had. Well chuffed, and I started reading straight away.

Thanks again for all your help.

Regards
Andy

[Adam Went]

Hi Janner,

Good collection of books there, sounds like you would already be fairly well read up on the London of the Victorian era - Jack London's work is particularly interesting. Don't want to overload you with books, but if you can, it's also worth getting hold of a copy of Mayhew's entire work titled "London Labour and the London Poor" - I picked up a 600+ page copy for about $15 AUD, and it's a fascinating insight to actually hear countless interviews from the people themselves.

Anyway, good luck!

Cheers,
Adam.

P.S. "Jack the Ripper and the East End" also contains some of Charles Booth's poverty maps from the 1880's....

[Scott Nelson]

You know, I have about four books. You don't really need more than a couple. The latest waste was Trevor Marriott's "JTR The 21st Century Investigation". It's in a wonderful soft cover 2007 paperback (John Blake Publishing Ltd.) The spine doesn't wrinkle -- it's got a really a great binding for lasting cosmetic appeal.

Suffice to say, I'll be heading to the second-hand book store soon for a hoped for trade-in. I only read the section about Kosminski, and I've never encountered so much misinformation in several pages. Maybe I can pick up Terrance Sharkey's book instead.

[Adam Went]

Agree about not needing piles of books with exactly the same information, Scott. I saw "The Diary of Jack the Ripper" in the second hand book store for $10 a while back - hard cover too - but thought better of it. Made the error of buying "Uncle Jack" instead....whoops...

Cheers,
Adam.