Of Men And Monsters: Jeffrey Dahmer And The Construction of the Serial Killer

"This is a book, not about what makes the serial killer tick, but about those of us--all of us--who have wound the clock and need to keep it running." These words by historian James Kincaid, in the foreword to Of Men and Monsters, introduce the idea, explored in depth by author Richard Tithecott, that we construct the phenomenon of serial killing. We also construct ourselves, he says, as audience to that spectacle. The killer himself responds to that audience, in a classic loop of the observer affecting the observed. It is a postmodern view, of course, to say that society, and its designated representatives such as FBI serial-killer experts, actually collude in the actions of a "monster" like Jeffrey Dahmer. Tithecott draws on the ideas of French philosopher Michel Foucault to explain and illustrate this view, using prose that is heavy going in places, but still quite readable.

Another important contribution to the cultural study of violence is Mark Seltzer's Serial Killers: Death and Life in America's Wound Culture.