{"product_id":"9780817385880","title":"Truman Capote and the Legacy of \"In Cold Blood\"","description":"Ralph F. Voss\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e was a high school junior in  Plainville,  Kansas  in mid-November of 1959 when four members of the Herbert Clutter family were murdered in  Holcomb,  Kansas, by “ four shotgun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives,” an unimaginable horror in a quiet farm community during the Eisenhower years. No one in  Kansas  or elsewhere could then have foreseen the emergence of Capote’ s book– which has never gone out of print, has twice been made into a major motion picture, remains\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e required reading in criminology, American Studies, sociology, and English classes, and has been the source of two recent biographical films.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Voss examines Capote and  \u003ci\u003eIn Cold Blood\u003c\/i\u003e  from many perspectives, not only as the crowning achievement of Capote’ s career, but also as a story in itself, focusing on Capote’ s artfully composed text, his extravagant claims for it as reportage, and its larger status in American popular culture.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Voss argues that Capote’ s publication of  \u003ci\u003eIn Cold Blood\u003c\/i\u003e  in 1966 forever transcended his reputation as a first-rate stylist but second-rate writer of  “ Southern gothic” fiction; that  \u003ci\u003eIn Cold Blood\u003c\/i\u003e  actually is a gothic novel, a sophisticated culmination of Capote’ s artistic development and interest in lurid regionalism, but one that nonetheless eclipsed him both personally and artistically. He also explores Capote’ s famous claim that he created a genre called the “ non-fiction novel,” and its status as a foundational work of “ true crime” writing as practiced by authors ranging from Tom Wolfe and Norman Mailer to James Ellroy, Joe McGinniss, and John Berendt.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Voss also examines Capote’ s artful manipulation of the story’ s facts and circumstances: his masking of crucial homoerotic elements to enhance its marketability; his need for the killers to remain alive long enough to get the story, and then his need for them to die so that he could complete it; and Capote’ s style, his shaping of the narrative, and his selection of details– why it served him to include  \u003ci\u003ethis\u003c\/i\u003e  and not  \u003ci\u003ethat\u003c\/i\u003e, and the effects of such choices— all despite confident declarations that “ every word is true.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Though it’ s been nearly 50 years since the Clutter murders and far more gruesome crimes have been documented,  \u003ci\u003eIn Cold Blood \u003c\/i\u003e continues to resonate deeply in popular culture. Beyond questions of artistic selection and claims of truth, beyond questions about capital punishment and Capote’ s own post-publication dissolution,  \u003ci\u003eIn Cold Blood\u003c\/i\u003e’ s ongoing relevance stems, argues Voss, from its unmatched role as a touchstone for enduring issues of truth, exploitation, victimization, and the power of narrative. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"University of Alabama Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47119223685360,"sku":"9780817385880","price":34.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780817385880_p0.jpg?v=1763745958","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780817385880","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}