Jack the Ripper Definitive History by Paul Begg | Pearson 2004 Paperback | True Crime Book for History Buffs & Mystery Enthusiasts

This definitive Jack the Ripper is almost too definitive as not only are the social conditions of 1888 London discussed in great detail, all the streets and neighborhoods of the East End where the Ripper may have lurked are described. Many readers who are not familiar with East London may quickly get lost. As another reviewer has remarked, a set of maps would have been very helpful.The squalid conditions of the East End may be even worse than you imagined. "The population huddled in any hole or corner they could put their heads into." Slaughter houses, glue factories, breweries and tanneries belched their noxious fumes into the air, joining the miasma that was the East End. Squeaky clean up there on her throne, Victoria was nevertheless not oblivious to the plight of the slums, and even banned mutton from the place menus. That lasted two weeks (I'm not sure what the absence of mutton was supposed to prove). However, Victoria's ministers were totally uninterested in the monstrous social injustices occurring right under their noses. In a class-oriented society there was no escape if you lived in a shack and spoke with a vulgar accent, especially if you were female. Polite society was with Ebenezer Scrooge: "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses? They had better die and decrease the surplus population."And yet, Victorian London enjoys a simply huge aura and is one reason so many people over a hundred years after the killings are still enthralled. Jack the Ripper in another city, another country would have sunk long ago into oblivion. The London fog, the murky streets and alleys, the opium dens, the sheer evil perceived by middle classes to be inherent in Whitechapel create a delicious scenario which is alive and well today. London 1888- think also Sherlock Holmes who is practically as much a denizen as Queen Victoria herself. Even though Holmes is fictional, of course, he speaks for 1888 London.The five unfortunate Ripper victims are listed below. There may actually have been other murders by the Ripper but they were not laid at his doorstep. Morgue photographs of the poor women are included in the book with a photo of the actual location of each murder. The horrendous slashing wounds each woman sustained are described in detail in the text. The four first victims were in their mid forties, but the last, Mary Kelly was only twenty four.MARY ANNE NICHOLS44 years of age5'2" tallGrey hair and grey eyesANNIE CHAPMAN47 years of age5' talldark brown wavy hair and blue eyesELIZABETH STRIDE (born in Sweden)44 years of age5'2" tallcurly dark brown hair and grey eyesCATHERINE EDDOWES46 years of age5' tallcurly dark auburn hair and hazel eyesMARY JANE KELLY24 years of age5'7" tallblonde or red hair and blue eyesA sudden plethora of newspapers were published towards the end of the nineteen eighties. "The 'new journalism' was almost single-handed responsible for creating the enduring legend of Jack the Ripper." People read of the five Ripper murders and flocked to the murder scenes by the thousands to gawk and very likely hoping to see some honest to goodness blood. Enterprising dwellers in the areas even sold space in their doors or windows for a better look.The politics and structure of the Metropolitan Police Force are discussed in detail and are a part of the intricate tapestry of the East End author Begg weaves. In the last two chapters he discusses the five major candidates for the throne of Jack the Ripper. His first choice is an obscure individual named Aaron Kosminski who was a Polish Jew well known to Scotland Yard and who was admitted sporadically to various institutions for the insane. Sir Robert Anderson was the only Senior Officer at Scotland Yard (Assistant Commissioner) to have "categorically stated that the police knew the identity of the Ripper" and that person was Kosminski. Kosminski was known to hate women, especially prostitutes. Legally speaking the police did not have enough proof to indict him, but after the murder of Mary Jane Kelly Kosminski was safely tucked away in an insane asylum.The final chapter of the book deals with other candidates for Jack, the most illustrious of whom was of all people, the Duke of Clarence, oldest son of the Prince of Wales. Prince Albert Victor, known as "Eddy" was "languid, interested in nothing...he was as aimless as a gleaming goldfish in a crystal bowl...lazy, dull, apathetic." He was given to dissipation, and was once caught in a male brothel when police raided it. But dissipation does not lead to murder and it seems Eddy was too stupid, too slow to have achieved the murder of five women under the very noses of their neighbors. Author Begg remarks that some day somewhere a document or letter may surface which fingers the man who was Jack the Ripper.In the meantime, it's case unsolved.