Waste Land

by Michael Newton
WASTE LAND

1958. More than a decade before Charles Manson warned parents to beware their homicidal children, nineteen-year-old Charles Starkweather and fourteen-year-old Caril Ann Fugate embarked on a shocking eight-day rampage across America's heartland that left eleven bloody bodies in its wake--including Caril Ann's parents. In an Ozzie and Harriet era of drive-ins, malts, and tail-finned cars, Starkweather and Fugate embraced the "live fast, die young" credo of The Wild One and James Dean, and touched off the Midwest's greatest manhunt since John Dillinger.

Now, utilizing firsthand interviews, court transcripts, death-row confessions, and never-before-revealed case details, WASTE LAND shines new light on the dark saga of Starkweather and Fugate--from their first kisses and kills to their capture and convictions. Complete with an update on Fugate's life today, WASTE LAND compellingly probes not only the mind-set of history's deadliest juvenile delinquents--but also the tragic end of America's innocence.

1998; Pocket Books
ISBN: 0-671-00198-1