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The Mad Bomber Of New York: The Extraordinary True Story Of The Manhunt That Paralyzed A City (2011)

by Michael M. Greenburg(Favorite Author)

3.39 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1402774346 (ISBN13: 9781402774348)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Union Square Press

review 1: This case was mentioned in another book I was reading about a serial/mass murderer who used the name of the bomber, George Metesky (aka Milauskas, Miliauskas, Mallauskas, Mulesky or Molusky). Not that his family used these names to avoid the authorities, it's just how it ended up being pronounced or spelled by non-Lithuanians.This book covers events from 1903, when George was born, to his death in 1994. Along the way we get a lot of local history of the mental health system, the police and their methods, Consolidated Edison Company and all you can imagine that may apply to the story.Of course, since we are talking about New York, New York this is a book full of superlatives and over blown rhetoric. The title mentions the "extraordinary true story of the manhunt that paraly... morezed a city.Well, the night one of the bombs "exploded" in Radio City Music Hall every one of the nearly 6,000 seats was occupied; there were numerous others standing around the back of the theater and many waiting in line to get in. By his own admission it just kind of fizzled and went bang.In fact, of the more that 60 pipe bombs planted, only about a third of them actually went off. An early one had a note inside it, another was filled with sugar.Finally arrested in 1957 after trying since 1931 to get a settlement for a Workers Compensation case when he was injured at a Con Ed plant, Metesky's bombs only injured a few people and never killed anyone. He sure cost the City of New York a lot of money and time investigating him. What they could have done with a computer in those days.
review 2: I was very pleased to get a First Reads review copy of this book. I had vaguely heard about the subject, but didn't really know much about it. It's a true crime story that probably very few people know about, unless they actually lived through the events in New York in the 1940s and 1950s.The first two-thirds of the book -- describing the early life, crime spree, manhunt, and eventual capture of George Metesky, the "Mad Bomber" -- moves along briskly, and is genuinely engrossing. The author describes Metesky's disturbed ideas and actions, and at the same time portrays him as a real human being, too, without caricature.One of the best parts of the book is the portrayal of the psychologist who creates a profile of the Bomber, and in the process helps to invent the modern science of criminal profiling. There's a great scene in the middle of the book where several NYC police detectives meet with the psychiatrist, who proceeds to draw a portrait of the bomber that will prove to be startlingly accurate.The last third of the book -- describing Metesky's ordeals in the court and psychiatric systems -- lags a bit, and might not be as interesting to most readers, except those wanting to better understand the insanity defense and the treatment of mentally ill criminals. It definitely makes a strong case for more compassionate treatment of this unfortunate group, however.There's more in this book as well. The vital role that New York City's newspapers played in reporting the story and helping to capture the Bomber is described. There's also a brief account of terrorist violence in New York City pre-September 11th, 2001, and a few pages about how the Mad Bomber became a sort of everyman antihero to some in the counterculture of the 1960s. It's a pretty remarkable story and the telling of it is overdue. less

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