Recommended books about the Jack the Ripper murders of 1888
The People of the Abyss by Jack London
Jack London’s The People of the Abyss is excellent at giving you a real flavour of the East End around the time of the murders.
Jack London spent about seven weeks living with the poor in 1902.
That was 14 years after the Whitechapel murders. He said in that time things had gotten worse for the people he met.
The murders increased the rate at which slums were cleared. Jack London pointed out that any slum that was cleared housed far more people than ‘the model development’ that replaced it. And the people cleared from the slum dwelling could not afford the rent in ‘the model development’!
Those evicted slum dwellers were forced to find another overcrowded slum building, making it even more overcrowded. These were the conditions that angered Jack London and the reason that he borrowed from H. G. Wells the phrase ‘the people of the abyss’. Wells had used the phrase in his 1901 book Anticipations.
Novelists and social reformers had talked and written about the conditions in which the urban poor of Britain were forced to exist. The word ‘abyss’, which at the time was regarded as a synonym for ‘hell’, was frequently used.
The difference with what Jack London wrote was that he was writing from his personal experience. When he arrived in the East End, he bought second-hand clothes and joined the poor in their desperate search for subsistence. The People of the Abyss was read by George Orwell, and it inspired him to do the same thing in the 1930s.
It is a great book because Jack London was a great writer.
Jack London wrote some great stories, including Call of the Wild, White Fang and Sea Wolf. And perhaps being an American helped him by giving him an outsider’s eye with which to view London’s East End.
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Halle Rubenhold
Like Jack London, the writer Halle Rubenhold is able to bring an outside eye to these murders. She, too, is an American. Also, in a field of research dominated by men, as a woman, she is able to give a different perspective to the events surrounding the murders of women.
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper is a wonderfully researched and written book which is highly recommended.
Combining what this book reveals with what is now known about unintended bias, the dangers of unimaginative assumptions, the unreliability of eyewitness evidence and the level of misogyny that has been revealed within our modern police forces should force us all to take a fresh look at the events of 1888.
It seems reasonable to ask that if misogyny is so widespread in 2023 (especially within our police forces), what was it like in 1888?
The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper
Edited by Maxim Jakubowski and Nathan Braund
Another book worth mentioning is The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper, Edited by Maxim Jakubowski and Nathan Braund.
The most common question I get asked on my Jack the Ripper tour is: “Who do you think it was?”
Part of the reason for the enduring interest in the Jack the Ripper case is the fascination with the ‘whodunnit’ part of the story.
This is why I mention The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper. The editors persuaded 16 experts to make the case for their favourite candidate for the mantle of Jack the Ripper.
It’s a fascinating read.
One thing is certain - they can’t all be right.
Although, quite possibly, they could all be wrong!
Jack the Ripper: Letters from Hell by Stewart P Evans & Keith Skinner
Keith Skinner and Stewart Evans are two of the most dedicated researchers into the events surrounding the murders that took place in Whitechapel in 1888.
They have published many books on the subject.
Jack the Ripper: Letters from Hell is essential reading for those interested in learning more about the hundreds of letters that journalists and the police at the time received.
Jack the Ripper: Letters from Hell contains images and information on the letters from the ‘Dear Boss’ letter, the ‘Saucy Jacky’ postcard, the ‘From Hell’ letter with its accompanying half of a human kidney and the hundreds of other letters that were sent.
It’s an impressive hardcover book that is still available online.
They All Love Jack by Bruce Robinson
And for those on my Jack the Ripper tour who are fascinated by the theory that points to a masonic connection to the Jack the Ripper murders, this is the book I suggest.
They All Love Jack by Bruce Robinson
As the Guardian says, They All Love Jack is ‘a bloody good read’.
But be warned, it is a long read - over 800 pages!
There is a lot of research in this book, and that research is presented with passion - if you don’t like strong language in your reading material, then avoid this book.
But if you are fascinated by the theory that points to a masonic connection to the Jack the Ripper murders, this is definitely the book for you.
The Complete Jack the Ripper by Donald Rumbelow
The best of the traditional books on the Jack the Ripper murders.
First published in 1975, The Complete Jack the Ripper presents a very comprehensive summary of the evidence, and it is highly regarded by many of the other experts on this case.
Well, this is me, Richard Walker, saying thank you for checking out this post.