Thunderstruck

by Erik Larson | History |
ISBN: 1400080673 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingGoryDetailswing of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 2/20/2015
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Journal Entry 1 by wingGoryDetailswing from Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Friday, February 20, 2015
I found this fair-condition softcover at a local Savers thrift store, and as I'd enjoyed some of Larson's previous books (including The Devil in the White City and Isaac's Storm), I had to pick it up. It's about Marconi's work on wireless telegraphy, which intersects with a hunt for fugitives in a spectacular murder case.

I'd read a good deal about the Crippen murder case, where the quiet, inoffensive-looking little Crippen was convicted of murdering his boisterous and restless wife Belle, dismantling the body, and burying the flesh in the basement before inviting his young mistress Ethel to come and live with him. This book fills in a lot of background on Crippen, Belle, and Ethel, including some things I hadn't known, and while it seems to provide enough evidence to demonstrate Crippen's guilt, there are also enough questions to make one wonder if, perhaps, the story wasn't as straightforward as all that. [Very recent research, from after the publication date of this book, proposes that the remains weren't Belle's at all; that makes for some interesting speculation. See more in the Wikipedia page on Crippen.]

Alternating with Crippen's history, we learn about young Guglielmo Marconi, whose intelligence and energy helped him work out ways to transmit radio signals over distance, leading to the development of the radio telegraph. He had lots of ups and downs, both in his work and in his personal life, and I learned a good deal about him as well.

The two storylines intersect when Crippen and Ethel choose to flee from their house, despite the fact that up to that point the police had pretty much believed Crippen's story that his wife had deserted him, and that he'd told her friends she was dead because he didn't want to admit to the truth. It seems likely that the police would have come after him eventually anyway, but the flight focused all their attention on the house right away, and that led to the discovery of the bizarrely mutilated remains. [Just how and why the body was treated that way, rather than being buried intact or disposed of in entirety, is one of many questions about the case...]

The police put out a dragnet for the fugitives, sending out descriptions - and it turned out that the captain of the ship they eventually took was one of the many people fascinated by the case. He spotted the unusual behavior of the two (Ethel was dressed as a boy for disguise, but the captain thought that Crippen wasn't treating his "son" in a suitably fatherly manner), did some sketching of his own to make up for Crippen's altered facial hair and missing glasses, and decided he'd found them - and he used the shipboard telegraph to send a message to the authorities. The detective on the case, taking a bit of a chance, hopped onto a faster ship and beat the fugitives to Canada for one of the most dramatic captures of the age.

And making it all the more spectacular was the fact that much of the world followed the pursuit as it occurred, thanks to Marconi's invention. In our time it's hard to imagine how new that was!

In addition to the main story, there's a section on notes and sources that includes some charming descriptions of the author's researches. And there are some entertaining little anecdotes in among the main events, such as the one about the cat that was used for the drug test on the murder victim's remains - the text notes that once the test (involving nothing more intrusive than eyedrops) had been done, the cat was dismissed - only to be dubbed "Crippen" and adopted by a medical student.

Journal Entry 2 by wingGoryDetailswing at Children's Museum in Boston, Massachusetts USA on Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Released 9 yrs ago (3/24/2015 UTC) at Children's Museum in Boston, Massachusetts USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I left this book on a table in front of the Children's Museum and across from the Boston Tea Party ships and museum at around 12:30 or so; hope the finder enjoys it!

*** Released as part of the 2015 4 Elements challenge. ***

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