Ed Gein--Psycho!

By Paul Anthony Woods

Book Overview

America may have had its fill of psychos for the last forty years, but no serial killer has inspired so many books and films ( Pyscho , The Silence of the Lambs , The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ) as Wisconsin's cannibalistic handyman murderer, Ed Gein. None of them has been used as the ultimate ogre in countless children's stories and off-color jokes, and none of them has been found guilty of as many unspeakable atrocities as Ed Gein. Ed Gein--Psycho is his story. This is his legend.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312130570
• ISBN13: 9780312130572
• Release Date: October 1995
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

thrilling and perfectly disturbing

ive read A LOT of true crime over the years and some accounts can be so dry and boring, even when describing murder, it's like reading from a machine that doesn't consider humans human. Ed Gein: Psycho is a whole other story. good pacing, gripping details, gives you perspective from the author and gein himself, sometimes slipping from third person to first. read it in a day. general warning, though i assume if you're buying stuff on gein youre aware of the content: heavily graphic descriptions of mutilation and there is a single victim photo around page 90 so if visuals get you, be wary

Come on, people!

If you're not into true crime, you won't like it. NO, it won't win the Pulitzer Prize for literature, but I guess I'm sick too, because I LIKED it. What we're dealing with here is a psychopath the likes of which we probably haven't seen before. Sure Ed Gein was sick. But this was a very interesting book, hard to stop reading. He was the basis for "Psycho", "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", and "The Silence of the Lambs". I don't have a problem with the writing style, it's sort of like pulp, but it's good. So what if there is junk at the end like pictures of the sideshow attractions, "Come and see Ed Gein's Murder Car!" The influence it made on modern culture happened. My favorite book on the subject is Harold Schecter's "Deviant". But I'm not ashamed to say I liked this one too. I'll bet all the reviewers who put it down, didn't put it down until the last page! LOL

DOWN WITH THE SICKNESS!!!!!!

First off, the story of Ed Gein, no matter who writes about it, is filled with abuse, insanity, graphic violence, and utter depravity. If you're offended or put off by any of the above, then this subject matter is not for you. But if you're into all sorts of weirdness and enjoy a cheap shlock, then pick up this book and I guarantee you will NOT be disappointed.Born in rural Wisconsin during a squeaky clean generation, Eddie Gein was raised by his fanatically religious mother and physically abusive father. Isolated and alone, tormented at school and within his family, Gein eventually descended into the dementia that had been taunting him his whole life. His ma discouraged any sort of interaction with modern women -- she tagged their hometown as a modern day Babylon -- but dear old ma never said anything about dead ones. After her passing, her youngest boy took to robbing graves, creating masks out of dead human female flesh, and scattering rotting human organs throughout his filthy, Hellish homestead. He even managed to knock over a few himself, one victim was a hefty tavern owner, the other an adulterous hardware store clerk. Written without any sense of dignity or taste whatsoever, Paul Anthony Woods exposes this nightmarish story for what it really is: a lovely little trip through complete and total insanity. Be forewarned, the book holds back no details and even contains a photo of victim Bernice Warden, decapitated, gutted, and hanging from the rafters of Eddie's summer shed. Not for the squeamish.

It's not a textbook, it's voyeurism!

If you're a serious student of criminology, you won't enjoy this book, but then most True Crime books are not written for the scholars among us. They are written for the sensationalism and voyeurism that most fans of true crime are after- even if they don't abmit it. I grew up in the Fifties, in the area of the country where these horrific crimes took place. Ed Gein was the Boogy Man for all the children who lived around that area during the 50s and 60s.(He still may be) I remember my Mom warning me to stay away from the railroad tracks- "Ed Gein is down there"...Don't go near the river, "Ed Gein will get you"...Don't stay out after dark... Camp-Outs were a plethera of Ghoulish Ed Gein stories. I was thirty years old before I saw the first book about him and realized that the stories were TRUE! This book has the same sort of campy feel as the stories and myths I grew up with. I loved it for that reason.

Could have been better

This book seem to be more of a book aimed at the Gein-er. This book has myths about Gein that were not proven to be true, that this book holds as true to make him seem even more psychotic and grusome. It was nice for the author to mention the movie based on Gein, but he did not need to go so far in the them. He also missed a song about Gein - "Dead Skin Mask" by Slayer. I do say the photos in this book are good, though. I think the author should have done a lot more research, but the more book on Gein the better I say. Still a good book!!

Extremely exelent and disturbing.

Excelent