Nothing but the Night: Leopold & Loeb and the Truth Behind the Murder that Rocked 1920s America

Dubbed the "Crime of the Century" in 1924, the abduction and murder of 14-year-old Bobby Franks in an affluent Chicago suburb shocked the nation. The culprits, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb (19 and 18 years of age, respectively), were sons of wealth and privilege. In Nothing but the Night, Greg King and Penny Wilson (The Last Voyage of the Andrea Doria; Lusitania) provide a critical reassessment of Jazz Age Chicago's most notorious crime as well as the trial and its aftermath.

King and Wilson employ a host of investigative tools, including a 21st-century understanding of psychology, to reveal the more complex motives for the deranged duo's murder of Franks and to dismiss the "for the thrill of the experience" theory propounded by history. The authors propose the opposite, while upending the common perception of Loeb as the mastermind of the two: "Nathan had the superior mind... he'd showed an uncanny ability to bend the weaker Richard to his will."

During the trial, renowned defense attorney Clarence Darrow represented the pair and used the case to "argue against a death penalty he believed to be barbaric." King and Wilson highlight the "groundbreaking courtroom battle of psychiatric arguments and Freudian theories... [used to] transform villains into victims" as well as the fact that Darrow hinted that Nathan's homosexuality was to blame for the crime. The authors also speculate on several other crimes Leopold and Loeb may have committed before murdering Franks. Nothing but the Night is an engaging and robust retelling of this infamous story for a modern age. --Peggy Kurkowski, book reviewer and copywriter in Denver

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