The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Blum. 311 pp.
My history teachers were always obsessed with the Civil War and Reconstruction, so we'd get to the last week of class and still have the entire 20th century left to cover. So I don't know a lot about the time period this book discusses, from just before Prohibition to when it ends. It focuses on the changeover from New York City having politically appointed coroners to having trained medical examiners; the head chemist's experiments to detect various poisons with scientific precision; and Prohibition's effects, social and legal. (I had no idea, for example, that the U.S. goverment tried to make illegal alcohol more poisonous because Prohibition didn't stop people from drinking.) Several actual murder cases are discussed too. I thought the mix of topics was great and kept the pace of this book moving. I may have to read more about Prohibition now though.
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