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Female Serial Killers: How and Why Women Become Monsters
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Berkley Trade (2007-08-07)
ISBN: 0425213900
EAN: 9780425213902
Dewey Decimal #: 364.1523
Binding/Media: Paperback - 496 pages
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
The first book of its kind-photographs included. Mothers, daughters, sisters and grandmothers-fiendish killers all. Society is conditioned to think of murderers and predators as men, but in this fascinating book, Peter Vronsky exposes and investigates the phenomenon of women who kill-and the political, economic, social, and sexual implications. From history's earliest recorded cases of homicidal females to Irma Grese, the Nazi Beast of Belsen, from Britain's notorious child-slayer Myra Hindley to 'Honeymoon Killer' Martha Beck, from the sensational murder-spree of Aileen Wournos, to cult killers, homicidal missionaries, and the sexy femme fatale, Vronsky challenges the ordinary standards of good and evil and defies the accepted perceptions of gender role and identity.
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Customer Reviews
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I Felt Sorry for Aileen Wuernos
Rating  (3)
Date: 2010-04-21
1 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
I enjoyed this book but mainly found the section on the first female serial killer, Aileen Wuernos, very interesting. I don't believe she should have been executed. Murder is never justifiable of course but in Aileen's case, she had an extremely terrible upbringing & difficult abusive life. The first time she murdered was self defense & the victim deserved it wholeheartedly. After that, something just went terribly wrong inside her mind & she became a cold blooded murderer. I feel that if this woman had been given a life of love & a wonderful childhood, she would never have become a murderer. I believe there was good in Aileen & I hated the way the movie "Monster" depicted her. There was no way they had to make her so repulsively unattractive when she wasn't that way in real life. I don't quite see the point in all that unnecessary ugliness to the actress Charlize Theron to make her so butt ugly to reflect Aileen, who was actually quite attractive when she was younger & before the physical abuse of her life ways aged her prematurely.
The chapters on the madness of the Manson girls was pretty gripping. Who would ever have thought a teenage girl that looked like Leslie Van Houten, a prom queen, could have such an evil & ugly soul? Ugly things do come in pretty packages. I'm still angry that all those Manson freaks weren't fried as the jury sentenced them to be. If you like true life crime & female serial killers, you will like this book.
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Amazing detail
Rating  (5)
Date: 2009-12-28
This book was a very in-depth (as in thorough, not boring) evaluation of female serial killers. From Wuornos and her similiarity to the male stereotype back to Elizabath Bathore in the 1700s (?)s. I was initially put of by the structure of the book as it was difficult to comprehend and somewhat boring with few case examples, but once the case examples started flying the preface information was immensly useful though I don't know how it would have been organized otherwised. I was also worried that it would be very anti-female, but was pleasantly surprised though serious Feminists may be put off. I found the book very useful and very good for referencing again and for others to read.
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very interesting and informative!
Rating (5)
Date: 2009-09-13
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
this book looks at both a scientific and psychologic view of these individual women and their backgrounds. it's a totally different kind of serial killer book. reads more like a text book but a very interesting one.
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Not your average tell all book
Rating (5)
Date: 2009-06-20
1 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
This was one of the most informative books I've ever read on serial killers! It was more than just a he did/she did book, it went into the differences between male/female killers as well as looked at the pathology. An amazing book!
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Indispensable.
Rating (5)
Date: 2009-05-15
2 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
Vronsky's book brilliantly tears apart the sentimental, politicized myths surrounding such female serial killers as Aileen Wuornos, reveals female poisoners as the terrifying, sexually depraved sadists they are, and places so-called Munchausen by Proxy "Syndrome" within its proper context as a form of serial killing. If you are nauseated by feminist rhetoric that constantly seeks to exculpate women for the most horrible crimes imaginable, then buy this book: reading it is like a breath of fresh air.
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Retail Price: $16.00
Amazon.com's Price:$6.78
That's 58% Off!
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