The Annals of Unsolved Crime

The product of more than 40 years of investigative work: an insightful guide to some of the most controversial and mysterious crimes of the last 200 yearsEdward Jay Epstein’s book on the Kennedy assassination Inquest: The Warren Commission and the Establishment of Truth was one of the first books on the case and an instant bestseller. After interviewing every member of the Warren Commission, Epstein concluded that enough remained uninvestigated that conspiracy theories would persist for years. Ever since, Epstein has remained a skeptic—and a dogged investigator. Writing for the New Yorker and Vanity Fair, he has reported on dozens of famous crimes. His books include a dissection of Lee Harvey Oswald’s ties to Soviet intelligence (Legend: The Secret World of Lee Harvey Oswald), an account of Nixon-era crimes (Agency of Fear), a widely-respected study of the CIA (Deception: The Invisible War Between the KGB & the CIA), and a study of surveillance tapes of Dominique Strauss-Kahn (Three Days in May).His method is simple: outline what is known and unknown, and show the plausible theories of the case. Where more than one theory exists, he shows the evidence for and against each. And when something remains to be proved, he says as much. In The Annals of Unsolved Crime, Epstein re-visits his most famous investigations and adds dozens of new cases. From the Lindbergh kidnapping to the JonBenet Ramsey murder case, from the Lincoln assassination to anthrax attacks on America, Epstein looks at history’s most famous crimes and their tangled histories—and again proves himself one of the most penetrating journalists in America.Review"A grand figure of modern journalism…Show Epstein a juicy crime and he will show you how it has been subverted by unseen powers for their own agenda, by the inevitable incompetence of investigative authorities and by the media because it likes a simple story line.” —Michael Wolff, USA Today *“Epstein often is able to provide exactly the kind of comprehensive and levelheaded analysis that is usually drowned out in the sensationalism…As a longtime investigative journalist, Epstein knows how to break down a crime scene.”—Newsday ”Armchair detectives will eat this book with a spoon. Journalism students need to read the Strauss-Kahn piece yesterday. The JFK piece is required reading for assassination buffs, And for the rest of us? The Annals of Unsolved Crime is a guilty pleasure.”—*The Huffington Post*”Whether you’re a true crime devotee or simply someone who loves a good story, you’ll find things you didn’t know—maybe things you would never imagine—all served up in… The Annals of Unsolved Crime.”—*Criminal Element*Praise for Edward Jay Epstein“Epstein believes that conspiracies are more common than most journalists credit; for much of his career, he has reveled in the kind of tantalizing clues that could lead somewhere, or nowhere.” —Joe Nocera, *The New York Times*“Epstein is a bulldog researcher.” —Jonathan Yardley, *The Washington Post*“A brilliant investigator.” — Lou DobbsPraise for Agency of Fear“Part detective story, part farce, part exposé, and part textbook on investigative reporting. It is ingenious, perverse, hilarious, and shocking.”—Victor Navasky“Exciting research, impressive thesis.”—Norman Mailer“Epstein tells all.”—John Leonard, *New York Times*Praise for The Big Picture“A rich adventure that will change the way you look at movies.” —Businessweek “Edward Jay Epstein is here to tell us that when it comes to Hollywood these days, we’ve got it all wrong.” —The Washington Post Book World“One of the virtues of The Big Picture is Mr. Epstein’s astonishing access to numbers that movie studios go to great lengths to keep secret . . . A groundbreaking work that explains the inner workings of the game.” —The Wall Street Journal“Hollywood has needed one of these for a long time—a user’s manual. This one could not be more complete. . . .[Grade] A.” —Entertainment Weekly“In his adroit charting of the confidence flow between the various entities and eras Mr. Epstein kicks up a lot of little surprises. . . Edward Jay Epstein is quite good.” —Larry  McMurtry, *The New York Review of Books*About the AuthorEdward Jay Epstein studied government and received a Ph.D from Harvard in 1973. He turned his master’s thesis on the search for political truth (Inquest: The Warren Commission and the Establishment of Truth) into a bestselling book, and has written numerous highly-praised books since then—including, most recently for Melville House, The Hollywood Economist, which investigates how Hollywood films are financed.