REVIEW: Panic

Panic
Author: Harold Schechter

The United States was paralyzed by The Depression when a series of child murders incited a national panic about killer pedophiles. Reports from the FBI in the media about these cases riled the downtrodden masses into hysteria about supposed huge numbers pedophile sex criminals targeting American children. Turns out, those types of crimes, while scary, terrifying and horrible, were not increasing in number at all, but the public was in a particularly vulnerable state and susceptible to hysteria and fear.  Panic, part of the Bloodlands Collection from Audible/Amazon Originals outlines some of the child murder cases that incited the fear about pedophile sex perverts in 1937.

The Bloodlands Collection gathers six true crime stories by Harold Schechter. Schechter is also the author of several true crime novels. I listened to the audio version of Panic. The audio is just over 1.5 hours long, so an easy, short listen. Steven Webber narrates. He reads at a nice even pace and has a good voice. Even with my partial hearing loss, I was easily able to understand and enjoy the entire audio book.

I found Panic to be interesting, informative and poignant even after the passing of 81 years. Sensationalized reporting in the media can still incite emotion, panic, and fear in the public even now. And, with the instant news feeds of the internet age, the spread of news reports -- sensationalized, true, false and otherwise -- is lightning quick. I found myself comparing the scare of 1937 to present day panics as I listened. Some things never change. Public sentiments can still be manipulated by the media. In some ways it's even worse now than 80 years ago as information is passed so much faster now, often times with no fact checking whatsoever.

Another great listen in the Bloodlands Collection! I have enjoyed each story. I'm definitely going to check out some of Harold Schechter's other writings.