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The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York

This book delves into the fascinating world of poisonings and the development of forensic medicine during the jazz age in New York. It explores the cases and investigations of a pioneering forensic toxicologist and the impact of his work on modern criminal justice. more

Author

Deborah Blum
Deborah Blum

Deborah Blum is an American journalist renowned for her contributions to science and environmental reporting. Born in October 1954, she graduated from Harvard University and earned a master's degree in science journalism from Columbia University. Blum's work has won multiple Pulitzer Prizes, and her books 'The Poisoner's Handbook' and 'The Body Electric' have received widespread acclaim for their in-depth exploration of scientific and environmental issues. more

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“The current head of that ward, an alienist named Menas Gregory, had been trying for years to change that haunted reputation. He angrily defended people in his care, many of whom had been brought in against their will when their families had them declared crazy. The lost occupants of his ward needed help, Gregory argued, not mockery, not groundless fear. He worried at how slow people accepted that, even in his own institution. 'There is, at the present time, no place where these patients may receive proper treatment.”

Deborah BlumAlienist DoctorBellevueMenas Gregory
Book:The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
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“Norris was particularly exasperated by a report that loosely blamed a man's death on wood alcohol. The document stated that the victim had been drinking heavily in the hours before his collapse. He'd also been stricken with sudden blindness (a classic symptom of wood alcohol poisoning) several hours before lapsing into a coma. The death certificate listed wood alcohol poisoning as a 'more than probable' cause. But 'more than probable' was hardly a professional opinion, Norris said. [...]”

ProfessionalismDeborah BlumNorrisWood Alcohol
Book:The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
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“The photographer had a camera strapped around one leg, attached to a cable that ran up his trouser leg and into a pocket. He could squeeze a bulb in his pocket to take one picture which would be unnoticed in the glare of sparks and the horror generated by the chair.”

PhotographerNonfictionPictureCameraElectric ChairDeborah Blum
Book:The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
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“The painters were teenage girls and young women who became friendly during their hours together and entertained themselves during breaks by playing with the paint. They sprinkled the luminous liquid in their hair to make their curls twinkle in the dark. They brightened their fingernails with it. One girl covered her teeth to give herself a Cheshire cat smile when she went home at night. None of them considered this behavior risky.”

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Book:The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
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“His son, Joseph, an organic chemist, had once announced that he'd decided early on against forensic toxicology: he could never have so many lives and deaths on his conscience. His father understood him. Because sometimes the dead did walk in Alexander Gettler's sleep, sometimes they rattled in the black chair of Sing Sing, and always, as he admitted in that last vulnerable interview, 'I keep asking myself, have I done everything right?”

NonfictionInterviewDeborah BlumForensicAlexander GettlerForensic Toxicology
Book:The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
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