A somewhat dry history of medical and legal thinking about homicidal maniacs, examining such topics as “The Alienist as Medico-Legal Expert” and “From Static to Dynamic Neurophysiology.” The actual murder cases are described only sketchily to provide enough of a hook on which to hang each era’s theories. So, instead of bestiary of lunatics, we run the gamut of 185 years of medico-legal psychobabble. Of interest only to the most hardcore student of homicidal mania. JM

Publisher: University of Alabama
Paperback: 182 pages
Illustrated