About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherHolt & Company, Henry

ISBN-100805060677

ISBN-139780805060676

eBay Product ID (ePID)698920

Product Key Features

Book TitleCries Unheard : Why Children Kill: the Story of Mary Bell

Number of Pages416 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year1999

TopicMurder / General, Forensic Psychology, Criminology

GenreTrue Crime, Social Science, Psychology

AuthorGitta Sereny

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1.4 in

Item Weight25.8 Oz

Item Length9.5 in

Item Width6.6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN98-033216

Dewey Edition21

Reviews"Cries Unheard will throw you off-balance. It will make it impossible to look at children accused of violent crimes in the same way ever again." (Alex Kotlowitz, The New York Times Book Review) "A profoundly philosophical and reflective psychological study of culpability and innocence, conscience and redemption." (Francine Prose, The New Yorker) "Even resolute believers in the throw -away-the-key school of criminal justice will find their convictions shaken by this powerful book." (Elizabeth Bukowski, The Wall Street Journal) "The recent spate of school killings has raised the excruciating question, Why do children murder? In this acutely insightful portrait, Sereny comes perhaps as close as one can get to the answer." (Megan Harlan, Entertainment Weekly )

Dewey Decimal364.15/23/0942876

SynopsisWhat brings a child to kill another child? In Cries Unheard, Gitta Sereny, one of our greatest authorities on questions of crimes and conscience, takes up the case of Mary Bell, who in 1968, at age eleven, was tried and convicted of murdering two small boys in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Twenty-seven years after her conviction, Bell agreed to talk to Sereny about her harrowing childhood, her terrible acts, her public trial, and her years of imprisonment. What emerges is a wrenching portrait of a damaged childhood and an adult's fight for moral regeneration, one that forces us to ponder society's responsibility for all children at the breaking point, whether in Newcastle, Arkansas, or Colorado., In 1968, at the age of eleven. Mary Bell was tried and convicted of murdering two small boys in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Even before she came to court, Mary Bell was demonized as the incarnation of evil, the bad seed personified. But Gitta Sereny, who covered the sensational trial, never accepted this explanation. Over the years, Sereny came to realize that if we are ever to understand the pressures that lead children to commit serious crimes, then we need to turn to the adults who once were those children., England's controversial #1 best-seller. What brings a child to kill another child? In 1968, at age eleven, Mary Bell was tried and convicted of murdering two small boys in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Gitta Sereny, who covered the sensational trial, never believed the characterization of Bell as the incarnation of evil, the bad seed personified. If we are ever to understand the pressures that lead children to commit serious crimes, Sereny felt, only those children, as adults, can enlighten us. Twenty-seven years after her conviction, Mary Bell agreed to talk to Sereny about her harrowing childhood, her terrible acts, her public trial, and her years of imprisonment-to talk about what was done to her and what she did, who she was and who she became. Nothing Bell says is intended as an excuse for her crimes. But her devastating story forces us to ponder society's responsibility for children at the breaking point, whether in Newcastle, Arkansas, or Oregon. A masterpiece of wisdom and sympathy, Gitta Sereny's wrenching portrait of a girl's damaged childhood and a woman's fight for moral regeneration urgently calls on us to hear the cries of all children at risk.

LC Classification NumberHV6535.E53N487 1999