Kansas Reconsiders 'In Cold Blood' Legacy

Possibly one of best literary masterworks of the 20th century has a conflicted backstory.

From one of our BEST & BRIGHTEST READERS . . . Here's a thoughtful examination of the master work . . .

"Which is why I hate In Cold Blood. It’s too good of a story. Back in the eighth-grade classroom, the book was exciting. When you come from Kansas, you rarely pick up a book about Kansas. You don’t see your small-town life reflected back to you, unless it’s turned sentimental (see: Our Town) or maudlin (see: Our Town). Rarely is our home made the setting of action, especially something exciting, like a murder and run from the law. Two men, two outsiders, invade a house in an innocent Kansas town and slaughter an entire family. Having heard that the farming family has a safe loaded with cash, they mean to rob them. Finding nothing, they murder them instead. The outsiders then go on the run, until they are hunted down by the law, found guilty by a jury of their peers, and executed for their crimes.

"The story is almost mythical, and myths have a special hold on the mind. It is sweeping in its themes: lost innocence, big-city evil penetrating the quiet, simple goodness of small-town life, a society growing colder and more depraved. It inspired decades of retellings and supplements. Surviving family members, friends of the family, family and friends of the murderers, other writers from Kansas, writers who had nothing to do with Kansas, wrote memoirs, novelizations, comic books, documentaries, films, television shows, all trying to add a new perspective to—or cash in on—Capote’s story of murder in a small town."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

The Complicated Relationship Between Kansans and Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

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