Crime Reads » History

The Strange Story of Mexico's First Narco, the Drug Panic He Helped Incite, and the Revolution to Come

The Strange Story of Mexico's First Narco, the Drug Panic He Helped Incite, and the Revolution to Come

In 1908, José del Moral and his stash of marijuana cigarettes were public enemy number one, and it all had to do with the classes who were smoking the herb.

By Benjamin T. Smith | August 10, 2021

Suicide, Despair, Lunacy, and Hysteria (and Surprisingly Little Murder) Among WASPS

Suicide, Despair, Lunacy, and Hysteria (and Surprisingly Little Murder) Among WASPS

New England elites were, by the end of the 19th century, feeling supplanted, useless, and wracked by melancholy.

By Michael Knox Beran | August 5, 2021

A Cozy Mystery Writer on the History of Class and Tea

A Cozy Mystery Writer on the History of Class and Tea

Wealthy drawing rooms, middle class parlors, working-class tea houses: on the many ways that the British take their tea.

By Vicki Delany | July 26, 2021

Defections and Detections: How a Sprawling Soviet Atomic Spy Network Was First Exposed

Defections and Detections: How a Sprawling Soviet Atomic Spy Network Was First Exposed

In postwar America, Soviet spies were busy gathering up atomic secrets. A series of defections soon threw the network into chaos.

By Ann Hagedorn | July 20, 2021

The Story of 18th Century England's Booming Graverobbing Industry, and the Man Who Inspired 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'

The Story of 18th Century England's Booming Graverobbing Industry, and the Man Who Inspired 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'

John Hunter was one of the era's foremost anatomists and surgeons. He was also the premier customer for stolen bodies.

By Sam Kean | July 20, 2021

In Victorian London, Dr. Thomas Neill Cream Was a New Kind of Killer

In Victorian London, Dr. Thomas Neill Cream Was a New Kind of Killer

Jack the Ripper wasn't the only serial killer stalking the city's vulnerable. In Lambeth, there was Dr. Cream.

By Dean Jobb | July 15, 2021

Best Reviewed
Books of the Week

Berlin in 1946 Was a Cultural Battlefield Unlike Any Before

By Giles Milton | July 13, 2021

How Voltaire Helped Spread the Legend of Europe's Most Famous Prisoner, The Man in the Iron Mask

By Josephine Wilkinson | July 8, 2021

The Women Who Became Sex Radicals and Changed the Course of American History

By Amy Sohn | July 6, 2021

American Dreamers: On Frank Lucas, Jay-Z and a New York City Crime Epic

American Dreamers: On Frank Lucas, Jay-Z and a New York City Crime Epic

Talking with Jay-Z about growing up in New York, the gangster dream, and finding inspiration from a bygone era.

By Michael Gonzales | June 30, 2021

The Lost History of Britain's Secret, Wildly Innovative Machine Built to Break Hitler's Prize Codes

The Lost History of Britain's Secret, Wildly Innovative Machine Built to Break Hitler's Prize Codes

In the same secret complex where Alan Turing was designing Enigma, there was another, vastly more complex code-breaking machine that would help turn the war.

By David A. Price | June 25, 2021

How the Banning of Joyce's <em>Ulysses</em> Led to

How the Banning of Joyce's Ulysses Led to "The Grandest Obscenity Case in the History of Law and Literature"

Morris Ernst knew he could win the case to "liberate" Joyce's famously banned novel. So he found a publisher, took a cut of the royalties, and had a copy sent by boat to America.

By Samantha Barbas | June 22, 2021

The Mississippi Farmer Who Helped Take Down the Jones County Klan

The Mississippi Farmer Who Helped Take Down the Jones County Klan

Tom Landrum was strongly opposed to joining the KKK—that is, until an FBI agent asked him to infiltrate the organization.

By Curtis Wilkie | June 22, 2021

A Murder in Tiger Bay: How Nadifa Mohamed's New Novel Revives a Decades-Old Tragedy

A Murder in Tiger Bay: How Nadifa Mohamed's New Novel Revives a Decades-Old Tragedy

In 1952, Mahmood Mattan was executed by the British government for a crime he didn't commit. Decades later, a new novel reimagines his world in the working-class docklands of Cardiff.

By Paul French | June 21, 2021

Ivory Shoals

Ivory Shoals

John Brandon

By CrimeReads Excerpts | June 16, 2021

Asian-American Spies Played Critical Roles in World War Two—They Were Also Under Constant Suspicion

Asian-American Spies Played Critical Roles in World War Two—They Were Also Under Constant Suspicion

A new study of three men and a tangled web of subversion, sabotage, and challenged loyalty.

By Brian Masaru Hayashi | June 16, 2021

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