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On February 20, 1962, John Glenn became a national star. That morning at Cape Canaveral, a small-town boy from Ohio took his place atop a rocket and soared into orbit to score a victory in the heavily contested Cold War. He became celebrated in all corners of the world as not just the first American to orbit the Earth, but as the first space traveler to take the human race with him. The Last American Hero by Alice L. George examines the many layers that formed the man and unravels the reasons for his singular role.
Mysteries and crime! There are many books about them and here, I am highlighting a select five. Happy Friday, here are your picks:
The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime by Judith Flanders. The detective fiction of today owes a lot to the Victorian era. Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, etc. popularized the detective novel, and the nineteenth century’s weirdness really leaned into sensationalizing murder (much like today! #truecrime). This books talks about all these beginnings and recounts the stories of some of the most infamous crimes of that era in Great Britain.
The Golden Thread: The Cold War and the Mysterious Death of Dag Hammarskjöld by Ravi Somaiya. If you were not around yet in the 1960s, here’s the center of this story: On Sept. 17, 1961, Dag Hammarskjöld boarded a Douglas DC6 propeller plane on the sweltering tarmac of the airport in Leopoldville, the capital of the Congo. Hours later, he would be found dead in an African jungle with an Ace of Spades tucked in his collar. Do you need more info than that to read this book? Probably not.
Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA and More Tell Us About Crime by Val McDermid. As someone who watches a whole lot of Forensic Files, I was relieved to see this came out as recently as 2014, as various branches of forensic science have basically been declared a lot of bunk over the years. Crime writer McDermid delves into the world of forensics and “discovers how maggots collected from a corpse can help determine one’s time of death; how a DNA trace a millionth the size of a grain of salt can be used to convict a killer; and how a team of young Argentine scientists led by a maverick American anthropologist were able to uncover the victims of a genocide.”
A Massacre in Mexico: The True Story Behind the Missing 43 Students by Anabel Hernández. In September, 2014, 43 male students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College went missing in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico (about a three hour drive south of Mexico City). In the wake of the students’ disappearances, protestors in Mexico took up the slogan “Fue el estado”–“It was the state.” Author Hernández backs this up with her research, which points to a massive governmental cover-up.
Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident by Donnie Eichar. If you’re familiar with the Dyatlov Pass Incident, you know it was deeply weird. In 1959, a group of nine experienced hikers in the Russian Ural Mountains died mysteriously on an elevation known as Dead Mountain. Incidents such as “unexplained violent injuries, signs that they cut open and fled the tent without proper clothing or shoes, a strange final photograph taken by one of the hikers, and elevated levels of radiation found on some of their clothes—have led to decades of speculation over what really happened.” Check this out to learn more.
Have a truly amazing weekend! As always, you can find me on social media @itsalicetime and co-hosting the nonfiction For Real podcast with Kim here at Book Riot. Until next time, enjoy those facts, fellow nerds.