A horrifying yet fascinating glimpse...
.. into the mind of a misanthropic serial murderer.
When Carl Panzram was arrested in 1928 for stealing a radio, he scoffed to the police that the charge was a joke. He had been doing time, "and practically nothing else", since age 11. From then until his execution in 1930 at the age of 39, his list of crimes included burglary, larceny, arson, piracy (yes, you read that correctly), sodomy rape (yup, that too), and murder. "For all these things," he later wrote, "I am not in the least bit sorry."
After the theft of the radio, Panzram was incarcerated at the Washington D.C. Penitentiary. Here he was befriended by a new and idealistic prison guard named Henry Lesser. Slowly, Panzram came to trust and confide in Lesser, and Lesser convinced him to write down the story of his life. He smuggled him paper and pencil, knowingly risking his job in so doing. Lesser gradually read the harrowing details of the abuses the prisoner had endured in his life, and of his subsequent hatred of humanity. Panzram's descriptions of his crimes are very direct, often disturbing in their matter-of-factness and lack of remorse; and yet, you may find yourself giggling at things that are really not funny due to Panzram's colorful and often dryly humorous turn of phrase.
It would take more than 40 years for his friend Henry Lesser to get his story published. Although editor H.L. Mencken, to whom Lesser had sent it in 1929, called it "one of the most amazing documents I have ever read", the American public simply was not ready for such luridness until the 70's.
This book is basically a biography of Carl Panzram containing excerps of his autobiography, as well as many of Panzram's letters to Henry Lesser after his transfer to Leavenworth.
For a career criminal with a 6th-grade education, Panzram was an excellent and powerful writer. His story is important not only because it illustrates how abuse can twist a person into a monster, but because it is one of the very few firsthand accounts of what the American prison system was like in the early 20th century. Prisons may be too soft today, but back then they were truly horrifying places to spend even a short amount of time. Panzram describes the types of tortures that were common-- and which prison wardens could get away with because they really didn't have to answer to anyone.
In spite of his nefarious crimes, which should not be excused or glossed over, you end up feeling sorry for Panzram-- his writings show a man with keen intelligence and potential, and yes, even humanity. There is a sense of sadness, like looking at a lovely portrait covered with hideous graffiti.
In short, if you are interested in criminal psychology, true crime, and history of the American prison system, this is definitely a must-have.