I won a Kindle copy of this book in a Goodreads Giveaway. I bought the audiobook after starting the book and discovering my other half was also interested in it. We both agreed the narrator, Braden Wright, did a great job with it. The subject is not an easy one to read about. I was in tears when the scene of the explosion was being read. I would have never made it through reading aloud.
The book talks about the bombing of the school in Bath, Michigan in 1927. I did not know about it before this book. The bomber was not a good person. (I am choosing to not name the bomber. I don’t feel like he needs to be remembered.) He had actually planned for a much worse explosion. I can’t even wrap my mind around it. Thankfully not all the explosives went off as planned. The author did a lot of research and wrote a compelling story. He brought up a great many things to think about and talk about.
Would I recommend this book? Absolutely. It’s a sad story. I cried hard, so you may need tissues. I read a lot of true crime books. The bombing and the murder of his wife and horses were so difficult. The message he left behind brings up a very good question. We have been talking about it as well as the reactions of the public afterwards. I mean, buying postcards? Let me know if you read this one. I would like to read your review. ( )

Here's one I'd never heard of before.
In 1927, in a town outside Lansing, Michigan, a failed farmer and politician named Andrew Kehoe blew up a school, killing more than three dozen people, mostly children. No one had realized that Kehoe had been breaking into the school at night and setting up timer controlled bombs throughout the tunnels under the school. The bombs contained enough dynamite to wipe out the whole town. The bombs that went off (not all of them did) caused a wing of the two-story school to collapse. Kehoe's particular target was the school's young principal, as Kehoe believed it was the principal's demands for better educational equipment and his salary that caused Kehoe's financial problems. After the school collapsed, Kehoe arrived on the scene to find that the principal was alive, so he murdered the man and committed suicide on the scene, making it clear who was responsible for the carnage. Police later found that Kehoe had already murdered his wife and horses, and rigged his home to explode. He even put a bomb in the hen house, because the chickens were supposed to die too.
The author explores other major news stories of the day, the most significant being Lindbergh's Transatlantic flight, which are the reason this story got so little attention outside Michigan at the time. ( )

Maniac: The Bath School Disaster and the Birth of the Modern Mass Killer by Harold Schechter is a highly recommended account of a horrendous historical crime.

In 1927 one of the worst mass murders in history occurred in Bath Michigan. On May 18th Andrew P. Kehoe set off a series of planned explosions at the Bath Consolidated School that killed 38 children and 6 adults. He also killed his wife, horses, and set fire to his farm. Then Kehoe loaded his truck with shrapnel and explosives and drove to the school. He called the school superintendent over to his truck and then blew up his truck, killing both of them while the shrapnel caused even more injuries to bystanders. It was clear in hindsight at the inquest, that Kehoe was an angry man. He was especially angry about the new property taxes levied to build the school.

Kehoe was a local farmer and the school board treasurer. He was often called in to look at mechanical problems, so he had access to the school. He had purchased a huge quantity of explosives, dynamite and Pyrotol, to be used in his explosions. At the school he set the clock on his device to explode at 9:45 AM, when the school would be full of children. Shockingly, it was discovered that only part of his explosives actually exploded causing the north wing of the school to collapse rather than the entire building.

Schechter does an excellent job setting the historical context of this account of one of the deadliest school massacres in U.S. history. For example, the explosion happened on the same day Charles Lindbergh took off in The Spirit of St. Louis. He also looks into the background of Kehoe, who was born on February 1, 1872. As the first son following six daughters, he was expected to excel. There were several early incidences that point to early indications of his mental state. Although there isn't much information about his life, Schechter presents what he uncovers leading up to the madness that lead to his abominable actions. This is a book that is sure to attract true crime readers.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Little A via Netgalley.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2021/02/maniac.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3840028023 ( )

"Maniac" is a book about one of the 1st school mass murders.

While the actual event is the integral topic of the book, much of the content is devoted to the historical accounting of other murderous personalities.

The book goes so far as to give a quite detailed account of Lindbergh's famous flight. In order to justify the large amount of time covering Lindy, we are later told that the media coverage of the Bath Massacre was minute compared to that of the 1st transatlantic flight. Seems more like something to fill the pages.

In any event, I learned alot about how history has handled evil doers, or as pointed out by Schechter angry, white, narcissistic men.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review. ( )

We had not lived in Lansing, MI very long before people referred to the Bath school bombing. I had never heard of Bath, MI or the school bombing. But the history was legend in Lansing.

In 1927 a farmer blew up the new consolidated Bath school, that had 250 children inside. At the same time, his own house and farm buildings blew up. He had murdered his wife and placed her body in one of the farm buildings. He drove to the school to see the carnage and when the Superintendent of Schools came to his car to talk, the farmer set off an explosion in his car, killing them both and killing and harming bystanders.

Forty-four funerals. Nearly the entire Fifth Grade class was dead. Lansing doctors said it was as bad as anything they saw in WWI.

Andrew Kehoe's wife inherited a farm in Bath, MI. They moved in and Kehoe became a good neighbor, involved in the community. When crop values fell he was broke. He focused on the taxes for the newly built school as the cause of his ruin.

Kehoe had an "inventive genius" and exceptional mechanical skills. But a closed head injury may have caused a personality change. He killed his sister's cat. He was seen abusing animals by Bath neighbors and friends. But few suspected he was capable of such evil.

Kehoe collected his explosives. In plain sight, he entered the school where he set up a system of explosives. He remained unemotional and detached even knowing what he was going to do.

Schechter shares the stories of people who heard the explosion and raced to the scene. He narrates the desperate struggle to find the survivors and the awful sight of blasted bodies.

Lansing was fifteen miles away. Victims were taken to the hospitals there, and first responders from Lansing and surrounding communities flocked to help at Bath.

Kehoe had planned his own demise, taking with him the school superintendent.

When Schecter first introduced Charles Lindbergh into the story I was confused. I learned that his historic flight dwarfed the story of the Bath School disaster. It faded into memory as new, lurid murder stories took over the headlines. We do have short attention spans.

Schechter sets the crime in context of the history of mass murderers and serial killers. It was interesting to learn that Kehoe purchased the explosives legally; after WWI, new markets were needed and they were promoted for farm use. A post-war drop in crop profits impacted farmers.

Kehoe's horrific crime of terrorism shocked the rural community of Bath, Michigan, and still appalls today.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review. ( )