20021110
Emily Dickinson, # 0700 - 0799 (of 1775) 749All but Death, can be Adjusted --
Dynasties repaired --
Systems -- settled in their Sockets --
Citadels -- dissolved --Wastes of Lives -- resown with Colors
By Succeeding Springs --
Death -- unto itself -- Exception --
Is exempt from Change --
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20021109
From: Jack1Olsen (jack1olsen@aol.com)
Subject: Re: Jack Olsen View: Complete Thread (64 articles)
Original FormatNewsgroups: alt.true-crime
Date: 1999/07/21HI Kari --
>>I'm curious and I'm sure others are too, if you are currently
>working on any stories?
>Or what current true crime cases you think are worthy of being
>written on?>>>Tnx for asking. I just finished writing THE JUST AND THE UNJUST: THE TRAGEDY
AND TRIUIMPH OF GERONIMO PRATT, about the Black Panther leader who was framed
by the LAPD and FBI and served 27 years before he was freed. Among other
things, he survived four assassination attempts in prison. Doubleday will
publish in May 2000.Not sure what I'll do next, but it won't be true crime. The bottom has fallen
out of that benighted genre, and I never really considered myself one of the
pack anyway. I'm a reporter and seem to lack the requisite imagination to
produce the blend of fact and fiction that now calls itself true crime. Believe
me, I would do it if I could. But -- ah caint.The hottest t-c subject at the moment seems to be the Capano case in Delaware,
which will be thoroughly covered by the crime journalist George Anastasia in a
hardcover book titled THE SUMMER WIND, to be published soon. He spent two years
on the case.I know of four other Capano books in progress, all quickies -- one hardcover
and three paperback.I'm taking bets on how long it'll be before we start seeing hot new books about
JFK Jr's. death and how it wasn't accidental and the Mafia was behind it or Abu
Ben Laden or Khaddafi or Terry Hallinan or you or me, and how aircraft
mechanics have determined that the engine was jiggered or the ailerons cut thru
or a mysterious surface-to-air missile was fired from Menemsha at the time of
the crash etc. etc. etc.Those books will appear. I GUARANTEE IT.
You read it here first.
Your friend,
Jack
http://www.jackolsen.com
Google Search
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>You posted a list of recommended true crime books a while ago,
>but I lost my copy. Could you put it up again?Jeez, Guppy, I don't know what I did with it. Maybe I should put a list like
that on my website so it's permanent.Just off the top of my head, I'd recommend anything by Darcy O'Brien or Gregg
Olsen (no relation), And the three books I mentioned in this thread. And Harry
MacLean's In Broad Daylight. Pete Earley's Circumstantial Evidence. Mailer's
The Executioner's Song. Anything by Jim Schutze. Barry Siegel's A Death at
White Bear Lake. Anything by Ed Humes. Steve Michaud's The Only Living Witness.
Bella Stumbo's Until the Twelfth of Never. Fatal Vision by Joe McGinniss
(controversial on this ng but indisputably great reading). The Onion Field by
Joe WambaughThat should be enough for starters. I know I'm leaving out tons of good books
but it's morning and I haven't had my Flutie Flakes yet.Jack
http://www.jackolsen.com
Google Search
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From: Jack1Olsen (jack1olsen@aol.com)
Subject: Re: books...
Newsgroups: alt.true-crime
Date: 1997/12/27Hi Daryl --
<<<>"Whoever Fights Monsters", by Robert K. Ressler. It's good, just take it
with a grain of salt. (and watch out that the inflated
ego doesn't use up all the air in the room).>>>A damned good thumbnail descrip, Daryl. My own two cents:
I think that the reason the profiling books come off as pompous and
self-promoting is that these guys realize they're selling a handful of smoke
and that profiling, while of some small degree of usefulness, is nowheres near
the panacea they would have us believe. They're saddling up a mouse and trying
to sell it as an Appaloosa. So they've gotta raise their voices to convince us
that they really solved this case and that case when in fact they've hardly
solved ANY cases and have actually screwed some up.As I'm sure you know better than most, the information they provide on local
cases is usually regarded as "interesting" by the local cops but seldom proves
genuinely useful in the solution of a specific crime.In fact, by the time the FBI profile arrives, the assigned detectives have
usually done a localized profiling of their own which is of far more value than
what comes out of the think-tank in Quantico.Within that context, I see Ressler as considerably less of a B.S. artist than
some of the other FBI geniuses and his work fairly interesting and
enlightening. Sure, he exaggerates his role -- don't they all? -- but he's
light-years ahead of the huckster Douglas who's made a fortune at the expense
of truth and done the science of criminology a terrible disservice.In my opinion, Roy Hazelwood is the best man who ever came out of the BSU. His
profiling instincts are sound, but beyond that he's a really great
investigator. Steve Michaud (author of THE ONLY LIVING WITNESS and other fine
t-c books) is finishing a book about him. I apologize for not having the title.Jack
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20021108
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For those who were fans of this gifted man, a very sad story remains to be mentioned.Jack Olsen was a longtime reader of and poster to the newsgroup alt.true-crime. As an unmoderated discussion forum, alt.true-crime is not for the squeamish: as well as attracting, from time to time, distinguished contributors such as Jack, it also attracts a diverse body of posters whose interests in crime are many and varied. It's in a state of semi-permanent war, as well, a war whose ultimate origin and end are equally obscure. Jack Olsen was unlucky enough to find himself embroiled in this flamefest a couple of years ago, one continued in the venue of a Yahoo! egroup, True-CrimeChat
So vicious was the treatment Jack received that Mike Quigley (owner of jackolsen.com) writes in Jack's obituary:
When I did get an e-mail from one of his fans telling about his passing, I was skeptical, since Jack had been the object of abuse in some Internet newsgroups -- I figured this was just a hoax.This shameful episode of bullying and slander is now being played out again in the usenet newsgroup alt.crime . Those of you who may have heard something of this strangely personal attack can see for yourselves the animosity and envy Jack elicited in some people.
full obituary here
Caveat: your editor was involved in the discussions at alt.true-crime, as a supporter and defender of Jack, a man whose contribution to the genre was crudely satirised by the combatants.
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20021103
The SunLink.com's obituary
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Jack at work.
This picture of Jack Olsen is reproduced with thanks
to Mike Quigley of the Jack Olsen Home Page.
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So why does Jack Olsen pronounce his genre dead?
Because he feels that it no longer stresses accuracy, substance over style, and the reporter's responsibility to get the facts right without inserting himself or herself into the story. Olsen believes these values are being abandoned by current writers, but the complaint is as old as the true crime genre itself
The problem presented itself at the very beginning with Truman Capote's inventive conjecture and manufactured quotes in writing In Cold Blood. This extravagantly successful "non-fiction novel" about the 1957 Clutter family murders in Kansas is considered the first true crime book.
Blood's success also pumped up a New Journalism that emphasizes character and social analysis over the who, what, when and where of traditional reporting. Olsen is definitely and defiantly a member of the old school.
"I recognized it as a work of art, but I know fakery when I see it," Olsen says. "Capote completely fabricated quotes and whole scenes.... The book made something like $6 million in 1960's money, and nobody wanted to discuss anything wrong with a money-maker like that in the publishing business."
Nobody except Olsen and a few others. His criticisms were quoted in Esquire, to which Capote replied, "Jack Olsen is just jealous."
"That was true, of course," Olsen says, "I was jealous -- all that money? I'd been assigned the Clutter case by Harper & Row until we found out that Capote and hi
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