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| Category: History |
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| About the Book | |
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This book, The Malefactor's Register by Mark C. Gribben, continues a 250-year-old tradition of reporting on the acts of the criminals who live among us. The Malefactor’s Bloody Register, or The Newgate Calendar, was first published in 1760 and contained accounts of some of the most notorious criminals in England. It was, in addition to being one of the first true crime publications, a best-selling “non-fiction” work. Further, the Malefactor's Register served as the inspiration for some of English Literature’s great classics. The Register told the stories of famous criminals in a moralistic tone, which allowed its readers to enjoy the guilty pleasure of lurid crime stories while justifying doing so because of the lessons the tales contained. It prompted many copies and competitors, and helped create a market for pulp fiction and newspapers in general. Inside this book are some of society’s lesser-known, but still fascinating malefactors. The subjects in this collection are, for the most part, not the types of cases that made the front pages, but their stories are still worthy of study for many reasons — not the least of which is their tragic uniqueness.
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| About the Author | |
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Mark C. Gribben is a writer living near Columbus, Ohio. A nationally recognized crime historian, his works have appeared in many publications. His true-crime website was recognized by Rolling Stone Magazine, which called it "a riveting site documenting notorious crimes from the past two centuries." |