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“Lizzie Borden took an axe / gave her father 40 whacks / when she saw what she had done / she gave her mother 41.”

Lizzie Borden and her murdered father.

Mandatory Supplementary Reading (M4-B):

The Lizzie Borden case has fascinated crime enthusiasts for generations. Read about it here and how it serves as a wonderful example of conflicting narratives--spun by prosecution and defense, magnified and manipulated by media, and wrapped around society at-large--are built around high-profile crime cases. These narratives often serve as a first rate way to identify the cultural values of the societies in which they take place. Pay attention to how the Lizzie Borden case helps us identify the cultural values attached to gender during late 19th century New England.

Catherine Ross Nickerson, "'The Deftness of Her Sex': Innocence, Guilt and Gender in the Trial of Lizzie Borden," in Michael Bellesiles (ed), Lethal Imagination Violence and Brutality in American History (NYU Press 1999).

Please contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester if you need a more accessible version.