The Leopold and Loeb Files

Praise for The Leopold and Loeb Files: “You have not experienced this case with anything approaching the astonishing and compelling detail that you will in ‘The Leopold and Loeb Files’. . . . graphically stunning.” —Chicago Tribune “It’s one thing to read the canned narrative of the crime and another to see it coalesce in real time via police records, psychiatric reports, and court transcripts. . . . The effect is something like a séance scripted by David Simon. It’s fascinating to read the transcripts of Leopold and Loeb as they talk in looping confabulations, backtrack, contradict each other, and double down. Their voices on the page thrum with the smugness of youth.” —The Paris Review “‘The Leopold and Loeb Files’ explores the dark side of the American dream. . . . It’s a thoroughly researched and lavishly illustrated chronicle that offers new insights into a murder and court battle that transfixed and fascinated Chicagoans—and still does.” —Chicago Review of Books “True crime junkies, this one’s for you.” —Make It Better “Photographs, interview transcripts, newspaper accounts, and more create an entrancing mosaic chronicle of a notorious early-20th-century murder. . . . Barrett’s collection of primary sources results in a fresh view of an infamous crime, as well as the social mores of an era.” —Publishers Weekly “A new primary source collection gives new insight into the case, highlighting the ambiguities of the trial in a way that only true crime can.” —CrimeReads