forms of literature

In your textbook: TRUE CRIME AN AMERICAN ANTHOLOGY

• Anonymous, “Jesse Harding Pomeroy, the Boy Fiend” (pp. 98-116)
• Murder Ballads (pp. 196-210).
• Other readings:
  • Browder, Laura. “True Crime”
  • “The Lizzie Borden Files”  This link contains the original texts of newspaper articles from the Borden case. Read one article from the Crime & Investigation section, and one article from the Trial section (your choice, but be sure to take notes/remember which ones you read).
  • Friedman, Lawrence. “Notes on the Nature of True Crime Trials” NOTE: this article by a Stanford Law historian is quite long (though it is interesting!). You only need to read pp. 28-33 (Section C, printed pages 1270-1275), which deal specifically with the Borden case.

1.How is Jesse Harding Pomeroy portrayed in “The Boy Fiend”? Imagine that the crimes occurred today. Would he be portrayed the same way, or differently? Why?

2.What does Lawrence Friedman suggest is the reason for Lizzie Borden’s acquittal? Do you agree or disagree with his suggestion, based on what you have read so far in this class?

3.Laura Browder’s “True Crime” discusses several famous true-crime authors and how they were involved with their subjects in some way. Name one of these authors and explain how their backstory was memorable to you.

4.How did the newspapers cover the Lizzie Borden case? How is she or the crime characterized in the articles you read?