Historians Hallie Rubenhold and Lindsey Fitzharris discuss their books The Five and The Butchering Art
Source: Why have we forgotten Jack the Ripper’s victims? – books podcast | Books | The Guardian
For hundreds of years, people have been fascinated by true crime and death, but the blurred line between real stories and entertainment can uncomfortably inflect our knowledge of the truth – and our empathy for people in the past.
Two historians are doing their bit to make us reappraise what we know about such histories. Hallie Rubenhold is the author of The Five, tracing the lives of the five women killed by Jack the Ripper. And Lindsey Fitzharris’s The Butchering Art is a history of Victorian medicine and the life of pioneering surgeon Joseph Lister, which includes details of riveting medical cases and shows the reality behind the gory details.
Reading list
The Five by Hallie Rubenhold (Hodder)
The Butchering Art by Lindsey Fitzharris (Penguin)
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