Starkweather: The Untold Story of the Killing Spree that Changed America

by Harry N. MacLean

Overview

The definitive story of Charles Starkweather, often considered to be the first mass killer in the modern age of America

On January 21, 1958, nineteen-year-old Charles Starkweather changed the course of crime in the United States when he murdered the parents and sister of his fourteen-year-old girlfriend (and possible accomplice), Caril Ann Fugate, in a house on the edge of Lincoln, Nebraska. They then drove to the nearby town of Bennet, where a farmer was robbed and killed. When Starkweather’s car broke down, the teenagers who stopped to help were murdered and jammed into a storm cellar. By the time the dust settled, ten innocent people were dead and the city of Lincoln was in a state of terror. Schools closed. Men with rifles perched on the roofs of their houses. The National Guard patrolled the street. If there is a cultural version of PTSD, the town suffered from it.

Starkweather and Fugate’s capture and arrest, and the resulting trials about the killing spree, received worldwide coverage. The event would serve as the inspiration for the movie Natural Born Killers and Springsteen’s iconic album Nebraska. Today, the story has dropped far from the national consciousness. With new material, new reporting, and new conclusions about the possible guilt or innocence of Fugate, the tale is ripe for an updated and definitive retelling. In Starkweather, bestselling author Harry N. MacLean tells the story of this shocking event and its lasting impact, a crime spree that struck deep into the heart of the heartland.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781640095410
Publisher:	Catapult
Publication date:	11/28/2023
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	18,336
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.80(d)

About the Author

HARRY N. MACLEAN is the author of the true crime classic In Broad Daylight: A Murder in Skidmore, Missouri, which won an Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime and was a New York Times bestseller for twelve weeks, selling over 1 million copies. His other books include Once Upon A Time: A True Story of Memory, Murder, and the Law, which was named a New York Times Notable Book and served as the basis for Buried, the Emmy-nominated Showtime series, and The Past Is Never Dead: The Trial of James Ford Seale and Mississippi's Search for Redemption, which was short-listed for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. His first novel, The Joy of Killing, was selected as one of the ten best novels of 2015 by the Denver Post. He lives in Denver, Colorado.

Editorial Reviews

★ 09/18/2023

Edgar winner MacLean (In Broad Daylight) delivers a magisterial study of the infamous murders committed by 19-year-old Charles Starkweather across Nebraska and Wyoming in the 1950s. From November 1957 to January 1958, while accompanied by his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, Starkweather killed 11 people (primarily in Lincoln, Nebr.) including Fugate’s mother, stepfather, and two-year-old sister. The reverberations of those murders, MacLean asserts, helped create the concept of the serial killer and provided inspiration for Bruce Springsteen’s song “Nebraska,” Oliver Stone’s film Natural Born Killers, and other works of pop culture. MacLean, who grew up in Nebraska and whose older brother had been Starkweather’s classmate, remained haunted by the killings and fascinated by unanswered questions about Fugate’s involvement for much of his life, poring over articles and trial transcripts for insights. Using that research—plus an in-person interview with Fugate that he conducted in 2022 after tracking her down in a Nebraska nursing home—MacLean pieces together a propulsive account that nails down concrete details from the “ten different versions” of events Starkweather provided in official documents, and presents crucial context about his and Fugate’s early lives. The result is an instant true crime classic. Agent: Paul Bresnick, Paul Bresnick Literary. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Starkweather is a profound and beautiful reexamination and reinvestigation of a story that is instantly familiar. Not simply essential reading for true crime fans, but for anyone who wants to understand the root of our fascination with the genre. Mythbusting and surprising, MacLean's latest transcends the genre that it also elevates.” —Ivy Pochoda, author of Sing Her Down

“Starkweather is a comprehensive, poetic, and brutal examination of American violence and our collective propensity for self-deception that upends everything you think you know about these so-called natural born killers. MacLean has penned an instant classic.” —Tod Goldberg, author of Gangsters Don’t Die

“Spellbinding. Starkweather is not only a chronicle of Charlie’s brief life and crimes, but also a skillful examination of the dark moment when a shocking murder spree in an unexpected place collided with a nascent national media—and changed America forever. Anyone today who seriously wonders how our crimescape became so freakish must read this book. It's one of our most meticulously researched and important crime-history books in a long time.” ––Ron Franscell, author of Deaf Row

“MacLean offers the most comprehensive work to date on the horrific murder spree launched in Nebraska by nineteen-year-old Charles Starkweather. As a community insider, MacLean presents a convincing case that the myth of teenage lovers on a murderous lark must be remedied. True-crime fans will be enthralled.” —Dr. Katherine Ramsland, professor of forensic psychology and award-winning author of Confession of a Serial Killer

“Spellbinding. Starkweather is not only a chronicle of Charlie’s brief life and crimes, but also a skillful examination of the dark moment when a shocking murder spree in an unexpected place collided with a nascent national media—and changed America forever. Anyone today who seriously wonders how our crimescape became so freakish must read this book. It's one of our most meticulously researched and important crime-history books in a long time.” ––Ron Franscell, New York Times bestselling author of ShadowMan: An Elusive Psycho Killer and the Birth of FBI Profiling

“Harry N. MacLean’s Starkweather examines the famous killing spree committed by a teenage couple, nineteen-year-old Charles Starkweather and fourteen-year-old Caril Fugate—a spree that shocked millions and changed forever how America thought of violence. Murder is a complex event. Its consequences ripple forever through the lives of those left to live with what was lost. What was lost in the Starkweather killings has never been so fully revealed as it is here, in MacLean’s uncommon close reading of this legendary tragedy. Caril, who walked out of high school one afternoon and entered history in a way that nobody could have seen coming, is, in a way, the secret story in Starkweather. We thought we knew the story, but the author may have uncovered what had been hidden in plain sight since 1958.” —Mikal Gilmore, author of Shot in the Heart

From the Publisher

10/01/2023

Covering a true crime that inspired the film Natural Born Killers, MacLean's (The Story Behind "In Broad Daylight") book sheds new light on the case. Charles Starkweather is best known for his involvement at the age of 19 in the January 1958 killing spree that took the lives of 10 people in Lincoln, NE. The first murder victims were the parents and younger sister of Starkweather's 14-year-old girlfriend. The girlfriend was believed to be Starkweather's accomplice as he went on to kill others they encountered, including a farmer he robbed and teenagers who stopped to help him fix his broken-down car. The killing spree and resulting trial were shocking at the time; Nebraskans were reported to have stood outside with rifles to protect their homes and families in the event the killer was near. Readers will appreciate that MacLean brings this time period, this case, and its lasting impact to life, while comparing it to similar issues society has faced in recent years. VERDICT Though the subject matter is bleak, this book is expertly written. Crime aficionados will enjoy.—Mattie Cook

Library Journal

2023-09-07
A new examination of “the first modern-day mass killer.”

MacLean, author of In Broad Daylight, has a personal interest in the case: Like Charles Starkweather (1938-1959) and Caril Fugate (b. 1943), Starkweather’s girlfriend, he is a native of Lincoln, Nebraska. They were 19 and 14 respectively when the crimes occurred, and the author was 15. Before the eight-day rampage in January 1958, “Lincoln was a large rural town of peace, predictability, and relative prosperity.” The book’s chronological sections, from “The Setup” through “The Killings” to “Impact,” are bookended by an introduction and epilogue. The couple’s spree began after an argument, and he borrowed a rifle and murdered her mother, stepfather, and 2-year-old sister. Starkweather hid their bodies in an outbuilding, telling Fugate her family was alive, tied up. By Jan. 28, MacLean writes, they had “left a trail littered with bodies young and old, male and female, poor and wealthy.” In contrast to Starkweather’s claims that she was “free to leave,” Fugate said she was “a hostage.” The author presents “two versions of each killing: one from Charlie’s point of view, the other from Caril’s.” Before their arrest, 11 people had been slaughtered, including a gas station attendant Starkweather killed weeks earlier. Although his version of events repeatedly changed, Starkweather confessed to the murders; Fugate admitted nothing. "The question of Caril’s participation in the killings,” MacLean concludes, “will likely never be settled once and for all." Both were convicted; Starkweather was executed, and Fugate served 18 years before her parole. Their infamous story “kicked off a blaze of storytelling,” including movies, music, and books. Given this fact, it’s hard to see the need for MacLean’s adequate retelling; true-crime readers will have encountered this notorious case in one of the many other accounts in print or on screen.

A thorough true-crime saga that breaks little new ground.

Kirkus Reviews