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What's New at Arcadia

Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast By Glenn A. Knoblock

Arcadia Publishing has releases a new title in the Images of America series, the historic account of the cemeteries along the New Hampshire Seacoast. This collection is a must for anyone interested in local history, genealogy, or colonial-era art. Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast and browse other cemetery books!

Green-Wood Cemetery By Alexandra Mosca

Arcadia Publishing announces the release of the historic account of one of New York's most famous cemeteries. Aracdia Publishing's Images of America series has an extensive catalog of many cemetery publications! Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Green-Wood Cemetery.

Announcements

Quoting Death in Early Modern England: The Poetics of Epitaphs Beyond the Tomb By Scott L. Newstok

An innovative study of the Renaissance practice of making epitaphic gestures within other English genres. A poetics of quotation uncovers the ways in which writers including Shakespeare, Marlowe, Holinshed, Sidney, Jonson, Donne, and Elizabeth I have recited these texts within new contexts. Visit Palgrave Macmillan and purchase your copy today!

Living by the Dead By Ellen Ashdown with illustrations by Mary Liz Moody.

A memoir about living beside a cemetery--and about the members of my family who came to rest at Roselawn Cemetery in Tallahassee, Florida. Please visit Kitsune Books for more information.

Graveyards of Chicago: The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries By Matt Hucke And Ursula Bielski.

Discover a Chicago That Exists Just Beneath the Surface - About Six Feet Under! Take a tour of Chicago's permanent residents! Please visit the Lake Claremont Press website to purchase your copy of Graveyards of Chicago today!

Epitaphs: The Magazine for Cemetery Lovers By Cemetery Lovers

For information regarding subscriptions, single issues, submission guidelines, deadlines, classifieds or advertising for future issues, please visit The Cemetery Club.

Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman

Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture is now available. Please visit Studio Indiana for more information.

West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark

Features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.

Book Review: Beating the Devil's Game PDF Print E-mail
Written by DeadGirl   
Tuesday, 06 November 2007
Book Review By Marilyn Bardsley
Beating the Devil's Game: A History of Forensic Science and Criminal Investigation
By Dr. Katherine Ramsland

Now I know what to get for holiday gifts for those of my friends that are "crime TV" addicts. This very enjoyable and instructive new book by Dr. Ramsland could also be titled Great Moments in Forensic Science. While everyone who watches the popular forensics shows on TV knows how important DNA, luminol, fiber evidence and other modern-day forensic tools are to solving crime, most people have no idea how these techniques slowly, and often contentiously, evolved into their present-day acceptance in the courtroom. Nor do people have any appreciation of how the early forensic pioneers and their supporters risked their reputations and careers developing, testing and defending the new scientific methods.

In Beating the Devil's Game, Dr. Ramsland gives you just enough of the story, insight into the personalities and description of the cases to satisfy. She makes these forensic initiatives, and the inventors and investigators who nourished them, really come to life. No extraneous, dry technical detail here, just the core of the matter. Unlike so many books on forensics, this one is so easy to read in layperson's language that even a junior high school student can grasp the details.

In her history of forensic science, Dr. Ramsland explores the complex relationship between science and law. None of the new forensic techniques would be used today had they gone through the daunting debate and rigorous challenges we see in the courtroom today. For example, Ramsland uses the O.J. Simpson case. Damning forensic evidence should have returned a guilty verdict, but a jury, unfamiliar with DNA and other technology presented during the trial, was unable to process and accept the scientific evidence for what it was. The unfortunate result was that Simpson was acquitted, but there was an upside as well — the vast audience that followed the trial was exposed to fascinating new crime-solving science. This influenced the origin of popular television series today, like CSI, Forensic Files, The Investigators, etc.

For anyone who wants to know the story behind the science that is shown every day on TV, this is the book to buy.

http://www.crimelibrary.com/news/original/1107/0603_book_review_beating_the_devils_game.html

 
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