The Monsters We Make

Criminal profilingthe delicate art of collecting and deciphering the psychological fingerprints of the monsters among usholds an almost mythological status in pop culture. But what exactly is it, does it work, and why is the American public so entranced by it? In The Monsters We Make, prize-winning author Rachel Corbett explores how criminal profiling became one of societys most seductive and quixotic undertakings through six significant moments in its history. She delves into Arthur Conan Doyles work on the Jack the Ripper case, Harvard psychologist Henry A. Murrays pioneering profile of Adolf Hitler and his later experiments on his student Ted Kaczynski, and the FBIs famed Behavioral Science Units investigations of such killers as Ted Bundy. Taking the story into our own time and the use of predictive policing, Corbett examines how thin the line separating those who do harm and those who aim to stop it can be.