Preamble Crime Scenes By Lewis H. Lapham The American fondness for the dressing up of crime in the costumes of romance is an amusement priced at too high a cost. More
Essay Staking a Life By Christopher Hitchens Why is the United States so wedded to the infliction of the death penalty? More
Essay Murder in Black & White By Nathaniel Rich A history of film noir, America’s cinematic take on life on the bottom. More
Essay Hostile Takeovers By Matthew Power Are the values espoused by Somali pirates so very different from those upon which America was founded? More
Essay From the Drawing Room to the Gutter By Charles Taylor Crime fiction affords its readers a way to acknowledge the world’s violence without either succumbing to despair or believing it can be made to go away. More
