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Maniac: The Bath School Disaster and the Birth of the Modern Mass Killer

Maniac: The Bath School Disaster and the Birth of the Modern Mass Killer

by Harold Schechter

Little A ·2021 ·189 pages
Maybe Someday
Maybe Someday
I Index
35/99
Near the Top

59/99

Critics' Rating Index

Bottom of the Pile

11/99

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Scholars' Citation Index

51/99

Volume of Reviews

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About This Book

Harold Schechter, Amazon Charts bestselling author of Hell's Princess, unearths a nearly forgotten true crime of obsession and revenge, and one of the first—and worst—mass murders in American history. In 1927, while the majority of the township of Bath, Michigan, was celebrating a new primary school—one of the most modern in the Midwest—Andrew P. Kehoe had other plans. The local farmer and school board treasurer was educated, respected, and an accommodating neighbor and friend. But behind his ordinary demeanor was a narcissistic sadist seething with rage, resentment, and paranoia. On May 18 he detonated a set of rigged explosives with the sole purpose of destroying the school and everyone in it. Thirty-eight children and six adults were murdered that morning, culminating in the deadliest school massacre in US history. Maniac is Harold Schechter's gripping, definitive, exhaustively researched chronicle of a town forced to comprehend unprecedented carnage and the triggering of a "human time bomb" whose act of apocalyptic violence would foreshadow the terrors of the current age.


Reviews

"A vivid narrative that's sure to please those interested in historical true crime tales."

Melissa Stoeger· Library Journal Read review ↗ Near the Top

"a fascinating book by an author who shows real mastery of the true-crime genre."

Michael Schaub· NPR Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

"Schechter does a worthy job with this dire saga, telling it in short, punchy chapters and placing it in a larger historical context."

Tom Nolan· The Wall Street Journal Read review ↗ Near the Top

"In his usual way, Schechter engrosses the reader without being sensationalist, and fans of his previous work would do well to pick this up."

Carrie Rasak· Booklist Read review ↗ Near the Top

"True crime buffs will want to take a look."

Publishers Weekly Read review ↗ Top of the Pile

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