Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
Jack the Ripper identified as famous artist., 12 Oct 2003
By A Customer
Jean Overton Fuller's SICKERT AND THE RIPPER CRIMES, first published thirteen years ago and republished now in a revised and updated edition, becomes more topical than ever following the appearance in November 2002 of Patricia Cornwell's book PORTRAIT OF A KILLER.Both these works identify the English tonal painter Walter Richard Sickert (1860 - 1942) as the Victorian serial killer Jack the Ripper. Between them, they present overwhelming evidence of Sickert's guilt. However, while Ms. Cornwell (reviewed elsewhere) makes this diagnosis from modern-style forensic and chemical evidence, Jean Overton Fuller reaches the same conclusion through a unique first-hand personal connection with the original events. In 1948 Miss Fuller learned from her artist mother about a friend of the mother's, Florence Pash (1860 - 1951), who in her youth had been closely associated with Sickert in Victorian London. Through Sickert, Florence became caught up in a terrifying sequence of events, revelations and threats - all of which, either directly or indirectly, pointed to his involvement in the Ripper murders. Too frightened at the time to tell anybody about her situation or her suspicions, after Sickert's death she finally divulged them to Miss Fuller's mother - who, in turn, imparted them to Miss Fuller. With hindsight, and taking into account a great deal of supporting evidence unearthed by herself, Miss Fuller presents a case for Sickert's identification as Jack the Ripper which (even without the additional material now put forward now by Patricia Cornwell - though that, of course, is welcome corroboration) unanswerably identifies Walter Richard Sickert as "Jack the Ripper", the Whitehall murderer. This is a scholarly book which is also readable, well illustrated, and tremendously exciting, and I warmly recommend it to anybody interested in social history, art, thrillers, detection, the joy of the chase or - quite simply - a good read.
|
|
|
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
Jack the Ripper Identified as Famous Artist., 28 Nov 2002
By A Customer
Jean Overton Fuller's SICKERT AND THE RIPPER FILES, first published twelve years ago, becomes more topical than ever following the appearance in November 2002 of Patricia Cornwell's book PORTRAIT OF A KILLER. Both these works identify the English tonal painter Walter Richard Sickert (1860 - 1942) as the Victorian serial killer Jack the Ripper. Between them, they present overwhelming evidence of Sickert's guilt. However, while Ms. Cornwell (reviewed elsewhere) makes this diagnosis from modern-style forensic and chemical evidence, Jean Overton Fuller reaches the same conclusion through a unique first-hand personal connection with the original events. In 1948 Miss Fuller learned from her artist mother about a friend of the mother's, Florence Pash (1860 - 1951), who in her youth had been closely associated with Sickert in Victorian London. Through Sickert, Florence became caught up in a terrifying sequence of events, revelations and threats - all of which, either directly or indirectly, pointed to his involvement in the Ripper murders. Too frightened at the time to tell anybody about her situation or her suspicions, after Sickert's death she finally divulged them to Miss Fuller's mother - who, in turn, imparted them to Miss Fuller. With hindsight, and taking into account a great deal of supporting evidence unearthed by herself, Miss Fuller presents a case for Sickert's identification as Jack the Ripper which (even without the additional material now put forward now by Patricia Cornwell - though that, of course, is welcome corroboration) unanswerably identifies Walter Richard Sickert as "Jack the Ripper", the Whitehall murderer. This is a scholarly book which is also readable, well illustrated, and tremendously exciting, and I warmly recommend it to anybody interested in social history, thrillers, detection, the joy of the chase or, quite simply, a good read.
|
|
|
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
excellent, engaging, honest, meticulous, 19 Nov 2003
i can hardly praise this book highly enough. although i have to thank patricia cornwell's high-profile mission to expose sickert as the perpetrator of the ripper crimes for inadvertently leading me to overton-fuller's work, i have no hesitation in recommending this work as the far superior.
i am no 'ripperologist', in fact the very idea of devoting an entire 'science' to the deeds committed by a common-or-garden sexually and socially deficient psychopath (read any scientific report on sexual homicides and serial killers and you will see how paltry these individuals are... neither can the 'ripper' claim to have been the first of his type, as a swift glance through krafft-ebbing's 'psychopathia sexualis' details numerous similar cases of individuals compelled to slice up dead women, amongst other equally banal sexual peccadillos) would be humorous if it weren't so terribly sad.
he was no criminal genius in evading detection; killing women out of doors in a london smog means there are no bodies in the cellar to give you away, and where there is no close connection between victim and murderer, as in apparently random attacks such as these, police might as well be looking for a needle in a haystack... so what is there to admire? the ripper's enduring celebrity is doubtless down to another, whichever 'spin-doctor' it was who dubbed him 'jack the ripper', a catchy title if ever there was one. maybe if he was dubbed 'willie the sexually deficient retentive' he would not have so many books, films, tours, etc, etc, etc... devoted to him?
anyway, the point is that you should buy this book as it is superb, whether or not you agree with overton-fuller's conclusions (which, in her hands, are only ever suggestions); her handling of the evidence is breathtaking, her discussion of Sickert's painting admirable, her honesty inspirational, and deserves to thoroughly eclipse the cringeworthy efforts of patricia cornwell (who disdains to mention overton-fuller's prior work, and who, what's more, seems to believe herself the bodily incarnation of jessica fletcher).
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
(3)
£9.99
(2)
£10.44
(5 customer reviews)
(
