Status
Publication
Description
A delectable true-crime story of scandal and murder at America's most celebrated universityOn November 23, 1849, in the heart of Boston, one of the city's richest men vanished. Dr. George Parkman, a Brahmin who owned much of Boston's West End, was last seen that afternoon visiting his alma mater, Harvard Medical School. Police scoured city tenements and the harbor-some leads put Parkman at sea or in Manhattan-but a Harvard janitor held a much darker suspicion: that their ruthless benefactor had never even left the Medical School building. His shocking discovery engulfed America in one of its most infamous trials, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts vs. John White Webster, Harvard's professor of chemistry. A baffling case of red herrings, grave robbing, and dismemberment, it became a landmark in the use of medical forensics. Rich in characters and atmosphere, Blood & Ivy explores the fatal entanglement of new science and old money in one of America's greatest murder mysteries.… (more)
User reviews
Collins details the murder, investigation, trial, and conviction of Webster, but also focuses on the case's place within the chasms among Boston's social classes. Initial blame for Dr. Parkman's disappearance was directed at the Boston's Irish immigrant population, then swelling due to the famine in Ireland. Even after Webster is brought to trial, the defense's main strategy is to deflect attention to Ephraim Littlefield, the Harvard Medical College janitor who is the main witness. The class mores of the time saw the working man Littlefield as someone who better fit the mold of murderer.
Collins also explores the innovations that emerged from the case. These include dental forensics as Parkman's dentist was able to use dental molds to identify Parkman's remains. The judge, Justice Lemuel Shaw, also gave instructions to the jury regarding the definition of "reasonable doubt" that became widespread in American jurisprudence, and weren't updated in Massachusetts until 2015!
This book is a good introduction to this remarkable case for those unfamiliar with the story. As someone who has read quite a bit about the Parkman murder, I also picked up quite a few new tidbits.
Dr. John Webster was a chemistry professor at Harvard and in debt to Dr. Parkman. The janitor in the medical building where Dr. Webster taught along with Dr. Oliver Wendal Holmes becomes suspicious of Dr. Webster and takes it upon himself to find evidence. Parts of a human skeleton and torso are found.
The rest of the book outlines the trial of Dr. Webster. One of the most interesting themes of the book is the influence of Harvard on the culture of the times. The Harvard men were proud, wealthy, privileged, entitled, and almost everyone from the poorest to the richest believed that to be true.
The book is based on vast research and the notes and sources take up many pages at the end. An altogether interesting and fascinating read. Collins has a knack of bringing history alive along with all the minor details that provide a close look at the time.