American evil : the psychology of serial killers / Dr Eric Cullen.

Includes bibliographies and index.

Cover -- Copyright and publication details -- Table of Contents -- Publisher's note -- Acknowledgements -- About the author -- Introduction -- The Perfect Storm -- The Demographics of Death -- First principle -- How serial killers are made -- Serial killer facts -- Some basic statistics -- Family abuse and fragmentation -- Mental, physical and emotional isolation and abuse -- A culture of violence -- Violence as entertainment -- Guns -- Whatever happened to right and wrong? -- Where does a conscience come from? -- Pervasive pornography -- Marginalisation -- Alienation

Serial killers as celebrities -- Addiction to drugs and alcohol -- The biggest prison industry in the world -- Disconnected and, at times, incompetent, police -- Summary -- The flip side -- Serial Killers' Personalities -- How it begins -- Infancy and childhood -- Dissociative identity disorder -- Immorality -- Rejection -- Psychopathy -- The trigger event -- Psychological theories -- The psychology of killing by strangulation -- Diminished responsibility -- Some personal characteristics shared by many serial killers -- Summary -- John Wayne Gacy: Gay Killer Clown

When being queer was dangerous. -- Positive and negative traits -- Significant events -- An orgy of killings ... and missed opportunities -- In conclusion -- Israel Keyes: Thrill Killer -- Keyes' suicide "poem" -- Crucial triggers -- How did Keyes become this monster? -- Untypical mistakes -- Motive: "Why not?" -- Samuel Little: The Worst American Serial Killer -- Little's story -- From Samuel Little's own mouth -- No conventional conscience -- Psychology of Samuel Little -- Robert Black: The Depraved -- Childhood -- An "isolated incident" -- Escalating offending and missed opportunities

Black's psychology -- Rationalisation -- Michael Bruce Ross: Feeling More Real -- Formative years and events -- Escalation and returning drives -- Progression to serial offending -- This serial killer's thinking and psychology -- Excuses, distortion and false compassion -- Killing as a logical next step -- In conclusion -- Levi Bellfield: Hiding in Plain Sight -- Childhood and youth -- Impact of early experiences -- Significant factors and signals -- Staging posts and missed opportunities -- Psychology -- Aileen Wournos: A Prostitute's Revenge -- Love and betrayal -- Seven victims -- Imprisonment

A cultural post-mortem -- Popular culture -- Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka: A Couple in Canada -- Bernardo's formative influences -- Karla Homolka -- Attempts to arrest and prosecute -- Cynical exploitation -- The psychology of Bernardo and Homolka -- Stephen Griffiths: The Crossbow Cannibal -- An unusual killer -- Upbringing and progression to violent offending -- University and more violent behaviour -- Ven Pariah "Bloodbath Artist" -- Gary Ridgway: The Green River Killer -- Ridgeway's upbringing -- Sexual obsession and promiscuity -- Psychology of a serial killer

Ted Bundy: For the Last Time

American Evil looks into the 'sordid' world of serial killers, their calculating methods and distorted thinking, based around the author's first-hand experience working with killers inside prisons. Dr Eric Cullen describes how he was 'so profoundly moved' by his inescapable conclusions about how serial killers are 'made' that he felt compelled to set out his findings. A critic of the serial killer growth industry, unhealthy interest and ill-informed comment he sets the record straight. Serial killers are made not born. But his more central polemic is that serial killers are one of several malign.

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