Why did I love this book?
This book scratches a long-standing itch for aficionados of the Leopold and Loeb crime of 1924. After the murder of Bobby Franks, after the trial of the century, and after the killing of Richard Loeb, then what happened? Erik Rebain finally fills in that gap with this meticulously sourced biography.
The book has a strong sense of place for moments in Leopold’s life that shook and shaped him — from prison riots to his first time seeing a show again as a free man. There are characters to meet, like his later-in-life wife and the distasteful friends he made while seeking discreet sexual favors from young boys in Puerto Rico.
Mr. Leopold continued to have dubious adventures until his dying day, and one’s knowledge is not complete without this fitting end.
1 author picked Arrested Adolescence as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
During the summer of 1924, everyone was obsessed with Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, the two wealthy, brilliant, lovers who had brutally murdered a boy with a chisel just for the "thrill." Between the charm and accessibility of the dashing teenage defendants, their "deviant" sexual appetites, and the 1920s' culture wars over the generational shift in acceptable morality, it is no wonder it was labeled the trial of the century.
100 years after the murder, this groundbreaking new biography reveals the motivations behind Bobby's death and the secret life of one of his killers.
Pulling on previously unseen archival collections…