Truman Capote: In Cold Blood
“The American dream turning into the American nightmare … a remarkable book”. (Tony Tanner, Spectator)
In 1965 Truman Capote (1924-1984) published one of his most remarkable books: In Cold Blood. After various successes, such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958), this masterpiece of journalistic skill and powerful narrative was to establish Capote among the greatest authors of the 20th century.
In this book Capote reconstructs the murders of a wealthy farmer, Herbert Clutter, and his family in November 1959. Known as the Clutter murders this incident deeply shocked the otherwise happy inhabitants of rural Garden City, Kansas. Even more so, as there seemed to be no apparent motive for the killing of four innocent people.
Capote traces back the lives of the killers, Richard Eugene Hickock and Perry Edward Smith, trying to find reasons of how and why two young men should be moved to such a horrible deed. Their escape and police investigations, leading to their eventual capture two month later, are closely followed. The narration finally closes in 1965, when both Hickock and Smith, after more than five years of imprisonment, find there end at the gallows.
Moving, captivating, and at times thrilling! You won’t be able to let go.
Truman Capote: In Cold Blood. Penguin Modern Classics, 2000. 343 pages. First published in 1965.
In 1965 Truman Capote (1924-1984) published one of his most remarkable books: In Cold Blood. After various successes, such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958), this masterpiece of journalistic skill and powerful narrative was to establish Capote among the greatest authors of the 20th century.
In this book Capote reconstructs the murders of a wealthy farmer, Herbert Clutter, and his family in November 1959. Known as the Clutter murders this incident deeply shocked the otherwise happy inhabitants of rural Garden City, Kansas. Even more so, as there seemed to be no apparent motive for the killing of four innocent people.
Capote traces back the lives of the killers, Richard Eugene Hickock and Perry Edward Smith, trying to find reasons of how and why two young men should be moved to such a horrible deed. Their escape and police investigations, leading to their eventual capture two month later, are closely followed. The narration finally closes in 1965, when both Hickock and Smith, after more than five years of imprisonment, find there end at the gallows.
Moving, captivating, and at times thrilling! You won’t be able to let go.
Truman Capote: In Cold Blood. Penguin Modern Classics, 2000. 343 pages. First published in 1965.